Performance Speech Simulcast Worldwide: History Revealed, Rescued
The Rescue Trial, a new play by educator and playwright Latisha Jones will world premiere October 17th, 2026 at 8:00 PM via WPAA-TV Internet Simulcast. With a belief that performance speech is the richest kind of free speech, Artistic Director Josiah Houston has facilitated distribution of several performances by poets and playwrights at WPAA-TV.
Nothing can replace the theater experience; however, the investment of time by the playwright, actors and supporting crew deserves another level of reach. Giving a second life to theater as community media is a creative practice.
— Artistic Director Josiah Houston
Stage Performance Footage captured by LoneBear Productions on August 1st, 2026, at Silver Spring Stage, Maryland, was remastered by WPAA-TV to simulate a multicamera capture for an intimate viewing experience that still feels like you’re in the theater. The video premiere of The Rescue Trial is part of WPAA-TV’s annual celebration of community media as a creative practice.
The Internet simulcast makes this significant dramatic work available worldwide. We believe it is significant because 1) it expands the historical record by centering women’s perspectives within the abolitionist movement, 2) it interprets and rescues the human stories behind the 1851 Hayden trial and the broader overlooked 19th‑century Black abolitionist movement, and 3) Ms. Jones reanimates the lived texture of Black abolitionist history — the humor, domestic labor, and everyday courage often lost in traditional narratives.
About the Play: History Brought to Life
Set in 1851, amidst the turbulent fallout of the Fugitive Slave Law, The Rescue Trial centers on Rosetta Douglass (played by Iyanu Bishop)—the educated, ambitious daughter of Frederick Douglass. As Rosetta and her brother Henry (Tone Arce) travel to Boston to report on the federal court case of local freedom fighter Lewis Hayden (De’Maryo Platt), slave catchers arrive in town, threatening the security of free-born and formerly enslaved Black citizens alike.
Rather than treating history as a series of distant icons, Latisha Jones grounds the narrative in the human reality of the Black Anti-Slavery community in Boston. By making Rosetta the point-of-view character, the play explores what it meant for a young Black woman to find her voice as an activist, writer, and editor for The North Star.
World Premiere Details
- 🗓️ World Premiere Date: Saturday, October 17th, 2026 (Replay Sunday 1pm)
- ⏰ Time: 8:00 PM
- 📺 Platform: WPAA.TV Internet Simulcast
- 🎬 Recorded Stage Premier: August 1st, 2026 at Silver Spring Stage, Maryland
Reflections on The Rescue Trial
The stage premiere of The Rescue Trial at Silver Spring Stage on August 1st offered more than a night of historical drama — it offered a reminder of how art can make the past feel startlingly present. Latisha Jones’s play, centered on Rosetta Douglass and the Black anti‑slavery community of Boston in 1851, doesn’t simply recount events surrounding Lewis Hayden’s federal trial. It re-humanizes the people who lived through those events, restoring their humor, domestic realities, and everyday courage.
Two lines from the transcript capture this beautifully:
“I want to go to Boston as a writer, not as a housekeeper.” “Perhaps you’ll find time to do both.”
That gentle teasing between Rosetta and Anna Murray Douglass is the heartbeat of the play: liberation work is never only speeches and trials. It is meals, caretaking, sarcasm, exhaustion, and the friction between generations trying to survive and push forward at the same time.
Humanizing the Icons
Jones’s artistic philosophy — “bringing historical figures down to earth” — is everywhere in this production. She refuses to present Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, or Lewis and Harriet Hayden as marble statues. Instead, she imagines them as people who laughed, cooked, argued, and worried.
One of the most striking choices is her elevation of Rosetta Douglass as the point‑of‑view character. Aging her up allows Rosetta to become the lens through which we see the movement: a young, educated Black woman writing for The North Star, trying to define her own role in a world where domestic duty and political urgency collide.
This choice mirrors what Jones described in her #DouglassWeek conversation: the need to amplify women’s perspectives, especially the quiet strength of figures like Anna Murray Douglass and Harriet Hayden, whose domestic labor made resistance possible.
Domesticity as Resistance
Some of the funniest and most tender moments in the play come from domestic interactions:
“You must be exhausted from your journey… Let me get some food in your belly.” “I am certain there are fugitive slaves here that could use that more than us.”
These lines reveal the tension between care and urgency, between feeding your guests and hiding freedom seekers from federal agents. They also echo Jones’s broader theme: small acts of love are themselves forms of resistance.
Her anecdote about Frederick Douglass’s mother walking 12 miles to bring him a heart‑shaped cake — an act that ultimately shaped Black History Month generations later — reframes “winning” not as defeating oppression outright, but as sustaining one another long enough to keep fighting.
Humor as a Political Tool
The play’s humor isn’t incidental; it’s strategic. Elijah Garrett’s satirical monologue skewering President Millard Fillmore — calling him “the biggest dog in all the pack” — punctures the solemnity of federal power.
Rosetta’s sharp retort to Margaret Pierce about “decentralizing advertisements” exposes class tensions within abolitionist circles. Humor becomes a way to survive, to critique, and to remind the audience that ordinary people often see political absurdity more clearly than elites.
The Hobbit’s‑Eye View
Like Tolkien’s “Hobbit’s‑eye view,” The Rescue Trial insists that the grand narrative of liberation is carried by people who worry about meals, chores, and family expectations even as they confront overwhelming injustice.
Samwise Gamgee carries a cooking pot to Mordor; Harriet Hayden carries the responsibility of feeding fugitives while her husband faces 15 federal charges. Domesticity doesn’t trivialize the struggle — it grounds it.
Monologues as Moral Anchors
The monologues in the play serve as bridges between the political and the personal. Garrett’s opening speech exposes federal hypocrisy. Rosetta’s internal reflections reveal the cost of being young, gifted, and expected to serve a movement larger than herself. Anna Murray Douglass’s monologues remind us that survival is its own form of activism.
These moments ensure that the audience doesn’t get lost in legal proceedings or historical exposition. They keep the focus on individual agency, quiet sacrifice, and the emotional labor behind collective action.
Why This Story Matters Now
Jones’s work resonates because she understands that contemporary audiences face their own overwhelming questions:
How do I deal with something so big and so intense?
Her answer — through Rosetta, Anna, Harriet, and Lewis — is that ordinary people have always asked that question. And they have always answered it through community, humor, domestic care, and persistent courage.
In that sense, The Rescue Trial is not just historical interpretation. It is a rescue of memory itself — a reminder that the people who built freedom movements were not icons, but humans. And that their humanity is what makes their legacy powerful.
Cast Spotlight
- Iyanu Bishop as Rosetta Douglass: The educated, ambitious daughter of Frederick Douglass. Working as her father’s assistant and editor, she travels to Boston to cover the federal court case of Lewis Hayden while striving to find her own distinct voice as a writer and activist rather than remaining in domestic roles.
- Colie Aziza as Anna Murray Douglass / Nancy Prince: The matriarch of the Douglass family. Deeply practical, protective, and grounded, she emphasizes survival, domestic work, and patience, urging her daughter to consider a life of stability while honoring the sacrifices made to build their family’s foundation.
- Tone Arce as Henry Douglass: Rosetta’s brother who travels with her to Boston to assist with coverage for their father’s newspaper, navigating the dangers of anti-slavery reporting alongside his sister.
- Darcella Owens as Harriet Hayden: A formidable Boston abolitionist and the wife of Lewis Hayden. Her home serves as a pivotal, highly secretive sanctuary for freedom seekers and community organizers during the trial.
- De’Maryo Platt as Lewis Hayden: A prominent Black freedom fighter and abolitionist in Boston who faces 15 federal criminal charges for his role in the courthouse rescue of Shadrach Mink, openly defying the Fugitive Slave Law.
- Thomas Friend as Elijah Garrett: A writer for the Massachusetts Liberator whose biting, satirical commentary critiques federal hypocrisy, President Fillmore’s mandates, and the state’s targeting of Black freedom seekers.
- Dana Fleischer as Margaret Pierce: A representative of the Rochester Ladies Anti-Slavery Association who embodies upper-class, “respectable” abolitionist politics, clashing with Rosetta over the tone and public presentation of women activists.
- David Jackson as Robert Morris: One of the pioneering Black attorneys in the United States, serving on the legal defense team for Lewis Hayden to fight the federal indictments in court.
- Carl Miller as John Hale: An attorney co-counseling on Lewis Hayden’s defense team, working alongside Robert Morris to challenge the legal basis of the federal government’s prosecution.
- John Cholod as President Millard Fillmore (Judge Benjamin Curtis): The 13th President of the United States, who issues an official federal proclamation commanding military and civil authorities to prosecute those who aided in the Boston courthouse rescue. (The presiding federal judge overseeing the court proceedings, representing the legal authority of the federal government enforcing fugitive slave legislation.
- Colie Aziza as Nancy Prince: A prominent Black abolitionist author and civic leader in Boston who participates in community organizing and public activism.
- Najah Bayyan as Joan Dorsey: A member of the local Boston Black community supporting the resistance efforts and the sanctuary network surrounding the trial.
- Rocky Nunzio as George Lunt (Callum Woodfork): U.S. District Attorney prosecuting the case on behalf of the federal government (represents the figures entangled in the fugitive slave enforcement apparatus.)
- Joshua Union as Officer Asa Ross: A law enforcement officer charged with executing federal warrants, apprehending freedom seekers, and maintaining court custody under the Fugitive Slave Law.
Promotional Design: by Ronald Davidson. Cast photo below by Freckled Fox Photography
