Mothers of Freedom

This is a Workshop showing of a play in development!

What does that mean? We have been creating this play together over the course of two and a half years. There will be costumes, sets, live music and dance - but the actors may use their script for some sections. This is a workshop performance - which means you get to see behind the scenes of our growth process!

After the show we'll ask: what did you think? What surprised you, moved you, made you laugh? What do you want to see more of?

This will be our last workshop before the show premieres and goes on tour in the fall. We're delighted to have you be part of this stage of our journey!

About the Story

On a snowy morning in January 1888, one of India's most famous advocates for women's rights knocks at Harriet Tubman's back door. Their conversation - woven with stories, memories, speeches from their lives - takes us on a journey of friendship, solidarity, challenge and hope. What happens when two freedom-fighters meet? Mothers of Freedom is an original co-created play based on a real conversation between Harriet Tubman and Pandita Ramabai.

About the Theatre of Eternal Values - America

We are the nascent American branch of an established international company based in Italy. We use a unique meditation-based creative process which illuminates our approach to every aspect of our creative work. To read more about our work and the performers involved visit: www.theatreofeternalvalues.com/america/

More on the story!

Harriet Tubman - abolitionist, activist, union army general - astonished Phildelphia and the world with her daring rescues of hundreds of enslaved people from the Eastern shore of Maryland. Thirty years later she finds herself still balancing her work as a freedom-fighter and the day-to-day challenges of motherhood, health, and balancing the needs of those around her.

Pandita Ramabai astonished Calcutta at the age of eighteen with her extraordinary memory for Sanskrit verses and her presence as a speaker. She became known as an advocate for the rights of women and girls in India, speaking out against child-marriage and the mistreatment of widows. But when she herself married a man of a different caste, converted to Christianity, and soon became a widow herself - she became a controversial figure. In 1886, her restless pursuit of further education and funds for her cause brought her to America, and to Harriet Tubman's doorstep.

What did they say to each other? What was it like for this young Indian woman to hear Harriet Tubman's stories? Did they laugh, compare notes, talk about their pain, their anger, their children, their hopes?

Mothers of Freedom imagines that conversation. It finds revolution in the small intimate moments of women talking around the kitchen table - and in their courage in the face of impossible odds. Interwoven with dance, live music, and excerpts of real speeches and writings, this play asks: what can we learn from the women who came before us? How do we sustain the freedom they fought for?

Details

The play runs 75 minutes with no intermission.

The venue is the Cambridge Foundry at 101 Rogers Street, Cambridge, MA 02142

Directions and Parking

The theatre is a 10 minute walk from the red line (Kendall/MIT)

Parking is available at the Cambridgeside Galleria Mall (7 minute walk). There is also limited street parking.

Further questions? Email us at: tevamerica@gmail.com

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"I hope my child will remember the story of Harriet, and try to be as helpful to her own dear countrywomen as Harriet was and is to her own people."

-Pandita Ramabai in a letter to her daughter, 1888

"I was the conductor of the Underground Railroad for eight years and I can say what most conductors can't say - I never ran my train off the tracks and I never lost a passenger."

-Harriet Tubman speaking at a women's suffrage convention, 1896