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A REFUTATION - Johns Hopkins Hospital
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A REFUTATION presents dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of excerpts from two conflicting historic accounts of Philadelphia’s 1793 yellow fever epidemic as a catalyst for guided audience discussions about health inequities in America today, grounded in the perspectives of nurses, caregivers, and first responders.
Featuring pamphlets, letters, and rebuttals by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, Matthew Carey, and Benjamin Rush, performed by Chad Coleman (The Wire, The Orville, The Walking Dead), Seth Gilliam (The Wire, The Walking Dead, Oz), Bill Camp (Presumed Innocent, 12 Years a Slave, The Queen’s Gambit), and Peter Marks (former Chief Theater Critic of the Washington Post).
A REFUTATION was developed with generous support from The Greenwall Foundation in celebration of its 75th anniversary.
Presented by Theater of War Productions, Union Memorial United Methodist Church, Ebenezer United Methodist Church – Capitol Hill, the JH Center for Medical Humanities and Social Medicine, the JH Program in Arts, Humanities, & Health, the JH Berman Institute of Bioethics, the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance, and the Resilient Nurses Initiative - Maryland.
Directed, adapted, and facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
All of Theater of War Productions' events follow the same format:
- The performers will read the texts.
- Community panelists will kick off the discussion with their gut responses to what resonated with them across time.
- We will open the discussion to the audience, facilitated by Bryan Doerries.
About the plays
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A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793, and A REFUTATION of Some Censures, Thrown upon Them in Some Late Publications by Absalom Jones (1746 – 1818) and Richard Allen (1760 – 1831)
A Narrative of the Proceedings of the Black People, During the Late Awful Calamity in Philadelphia, in the Year 1793, and A REFUTATION of Some Censures, Thrown upon Them in Some Late Publications, by Absalom Jones (1746 – 1818) and Richard Allen (1760 – 1831), highly distinguished civic and religious leaders from Philadelphia’s free Black community, was the first publication by Black authors to receive a federal copyright in the United States. Both men were born into slavery, purchased their freedom, and rose to become the important leaders in the nation’s largest free Black community. Jones was the nation’s first Black Episcopal priest, and Allen founded Bethel Church, the oldest African Methodist Episcopal congregation in the nation. Their pamphlet is the only depiction of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic that foregrounds the perspectives and experiences of Black people and the first known text to express Black community anger and directly challenge accusations and libelous statements by a white author. It had a print run of 250-500 copies.
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A Short Account of the Malignant Fever, Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia, With a Statement of the Proceedings That Took Place on the Subject in Different Parts of the United States by Matthew Carey (1760 -1839)
A Short Account of the Malignant Fever, Lately Prevalent in Philadelphia, With a Statement of the Proceedings That Took Place on the Subject in Different Parts of the United States, by Matthew Carey (1760 -1839), an Irish immigrant and the nation’s most preeminent publisher at the time, was a runaway success. Roughly 10,000 copies of the pamphlet were sold in four editions over the span of two months. The pamphlet made distorted, racist claims about Black nurses, care givers, and first responders during the height of the epidemic, prompting Absalom Jones and Richard Allen to publish a rebuttal seven weeks after its first print run.
Cast Members
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Seth Gilliam
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Bill Camp
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Chad Coleman
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Peter Marks
Explore Projects
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Racialized Police ViolenceAntigone in FergusonAntigone in Ferguson is a groundbreaking project that fuses dramatic readings by acclaimed actors of Sophocles’ Antigone with live choral music performed by a diverse choir, including activists, youth, teachers, police officers, and concerned citizens from St. Louis, Missouri and New York City, culminating in powerful, healing discussions about racialized violence, police brutality, systemic oppression, gender-based violence, health inequality, and social justice. Antigone in Ferguson was conceived in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014, through a collaboration between Theater of War Productions and community members from Ferguson, MO, and premiered at Normandy High School, Michael Brown’s alma mater, in September of 2016.
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Caregiving & DeathKing Lear ProjectThe King Lear Project presents streamlined readings of scenes from Shakespeare’s King Lear to engage diverse audiences—including older adults, caregivers, and family members—in open, healing, constructive, discussions about the challenges of aging, dementia, and caring for friends and loved ones.
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Domestic ViolencePatient and Impatient GriseldaTheater of War Productions and Margaret Atwood return to the Toronto International Festival of Authors with an exciting new collaboration exploring power and control, domestic violence, and family dynamics by way of two versions of the same story, one written by Giovanni Boccaccio in 1348 during the bubonic plague and the other by Atwood in 2020 during the Covid-19 pandemic. In Bocaccio’s version, a woman named Griselda remains in an abusive and controlling relationship, showing great patience and forbearance in the face of her husband’s sadism and cruelty. In Atwood’s version, Griselda takes matters in her own hands and, with the help of her sister, turns the tables on her husband.
This free, public event featured a live, dramatic reading of the “Patient Griselda” story from Boccaccio's Decameron by Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network, Fleishman is in Trouble), Maev Beaty (Beau is Afraid, Mouthpiece), and Araya Mengesha (Tiny Pretty Things, Nobody). Then, in response, Margaret Atwood performed “Impatient Grisleda,” a story that is narrated to a group of humans in quarantine by an alien that looks like an octopus. The readings of both texts was followed by immediate responses by community panelists and culminated in a guided audience discussion, facilitated by Bryan Doerries (Artistic Director, Theater of War Productions).
Co-presented by Theater of War Productions and Toronto International Festival of Authors.
This hybrid presentation took place in person at the Toronto Harbourfront Centre Theatre and on Zoom Webinar on September 30, 2023.