 Good day all, Recently I've been making an effort to enlighten myself about history, and in particular about American history. In doing so I've tried to gear my work as an artist in that direction as well, which is why I'm extremely pleased to announce my participation with the Historic Annapolis Foundation in an upcoming project titled Project Run-A-Way. Project Run-A-Way is a multi-media theatrical performance dealing with the lives of slaves, indentured servants, and convict servants in America between the years of 1720 and 1860. It goes into detail about the lives of these individuals, they're beliefs on slavery, their desires for freedom and their ultimate decision to escape slavery and servitude. Personally this project holds great meaning for myself because most of these stories are of people who resided here in my home state of Maryland. Their escape was advertised, and rewards offered, within two newspapers of the time, the Maryland Republican and the Maryland Gazette. Over the last year historians in Annapolis, MD have studied these advertisements and used them to piece together the great stories of these very intriguing individuals. Some are directly from the continent of Africa, some are irish indentures, while others were born right here in America. They were musicians, writers, mothers, fathers, husbands, and wives. And, for most of them these performances will be the first time their stories have ever been told.  Now, some of you are probably thinking "I didn't know Doug could act". And, well, I can't (I did get out school a couple times by faking being sick but I'm sure my skills have diminished since then). I'm actually part of the "multi-media" aspect of the performance. Through viewing the newspaper articles, reading the various scripts, and working closely with the wonderful Scotti Preston and Glenn Campbell of the Historic Annapolis Foundation I've come up with a number of portraits and illustrations of characters and scenes pertaining to the stories of the "runaways". I've done my best to bring these characters to life and to accurately depict, both physically and emotionally, certain scenes from their lives. I've included a few here on my website as examples. It's truly been a pleasure to be a part of this. It's been eye-opening, educational and I'm very much looking forward to seeing the performances. If you're interested in seeing the show yourself you can visit the website for the Historic Annapolis Foundation right HERE for more information on dates and locations.  There will be a total of four performances this month and I'll be attending at least one of them at the wonderful Avalon Theatre in Easton, Maryland. If anyone has any questions about the show you're more than welcome to contact me.
Thanks all and talk with ya soon, - D
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