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Beate Hein Bennett
"Dust
of Egypt" March 6 to March 29, 2026
March is dedicated as Women’s Month to commemorate and celebrate women in American history that have contributed significant changes to the world they inhabit. The contributions have come about through struggle against traditions, conventions, and social or male opposition. Traditionally, women, like children, were to be seen not heard; they did not belong to the public sphere and were political non-entities until they finally obtained the right to vote in 1920 after a struggle of more than fifty years and much maligning and mocking of their campaigns. Black women were the most “unseen” and “unheard’ seen as no more than chattel and breeders. However, two towering black slave women, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, emerged in the 19th century to join the struggle against slavery and its cruel dehumanizing effects, notably the separation of families through slave auctions. “Dust of Egypt” tells the remarkable story of Sojourner Truth (1797 -1883). Born into slavery as “Bell” on a farm in upstate New York, she bravely escaped, leaving all her children but one daughter behind. (In 1827 New York state enacted a law to eliminate slavery gradually but she was not released by her owner). Under her self-created name “Sojourner Truth” she became a powerful orator as a migrant preacher. The play “Dust of Egypt” follows Sojourner’s evolution from being the strong-willed free-spirited young Bell who ‘has a tongue’ to becoming the powerful voice for the abolition of slavery and for women’s rights fighting alongside Fredrick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. Central to the play is her court case against Mr. Solomon Gedney, a white wealthy Northerner who had lured her five-year-old son Peter to become his personal servant; he eventually sold him illegally to his brother-in-law, a cotton plantation owner in Alabama. Ms. Abarbanel created a time fluid text that moves between the actions of young Bell and mature Sojourner juxtaposing the fearful conditions under which Bell grew up and matured with the bravery and bold perseverance with which she prevailed against loss and degradation to become the formidable Sojourner. The text incorporates some segments from Sojourner’s famous speeches, most notably her speech known by the line “Ain’t I a Woman”—it echoes Shakepeare’s Shylock in court! The text also juxtaposes the pre-civil war burgeoning notions of racial justice as the abolitionist movement gradually gains a foothold, first supported by the Quakers, and the collective bi-racial women’s movement which upends social conventions about their rightful place in the political sphere.
Director Rhonda Passion Hansome, a venerable award-winning theater
artist, moves the text forward with precision and a solid sense
of pace and focus. She choreographs the ensemble of superb actors
to create emotional tension, heightened drama, and moments of rich
humor in the sharp verbal repartees, reminiscent of Langston Hughes’s
Semple character.
This play focuses on the black experience in pre-civil war America; the figures representing the prominent white society are more difficult to parse. Ms. Abarbanel does not shy away from depicting the various attitudes that the white majority harbored towards Blacks, ranging from disdain to dehumanizing cruelty to downright fear. Mrs. Gedney, played by Jeanna Schweppe, and her son Solomon, played by Mark McCullough Thomas, represent these attitudes. They are wealthy, inhabit a fine house, and travel to Europe for culture and pleasure. Solomon toys with Peter as he lures him with a shiny coin to become his personal ‘blackamoor.’ Mr. Thomas is credible with his easy but cold indifferent charm with which he can ‘purchase’ the child only to toss him away by selling him for $100 to his cruel brother-in-law in Alabama. His amoral core is clearly depicted as he loses in court. Jeanna Schweppe’s portrayal ranges from the cool proper lady of the house to falling into madness as she experiences the loss of her daughter through the murderous cruelty of her Alabama planter son-in-law. The final scene between her and Bell/Sojourner is rich in dramatic irony. Last not least is Nicholas Louis Turturro as Romeyn, the lawyer who takes on Bell’s case against Mr. Gedney. Romeyn represents the new legal community. He deftly and with humor as well as some impatience tries to control Bell’s outbursts in court while raising his argument why Mr. Gedney must be found guilty of the illegal sale of Peter, the son of a free Black woman and thus himself legally free in New York. Although Bell/Sojourner wins the case, she loses Peter as he never quite forgives her for leaving him behind when she made her escape. Her loss and his loss are permanent scars in their hearts. The play ends in a kind of apotheosis, a beautiful theatrical image and figurative play on the biblical ‘dust of Egypt’ that was carried by the Jews into their ‘promised land.’ All the characters assemble on stage with dark dust, like ashes, on their hands as Sojourner comes around to each and wipes the dust markings off their hands, not completely—this dust is borne forth by all, like the ashes of past generations. |
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