'Maritcha Made Visible'...
a site-specific co-conjuring & reclamation of Maritcha Remond Lyons' living legacy
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"But what of the ‘audiences,’ the everyday passersby, the children who run around the parkette, the “FiDi Bros” in Lower Manhattan, delivery persons, the great grandchildren of the students Maritcha educated, those of us who encounter these spaces? Are we co-conspirators in an erasure we may not wish to participate in? How might we resist and upend this silence? Inspired by the call to activate space and create public facing ‘monuments’ that serve to interrupt, disrupt and sing out against a century and a half of erasure..."
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It is July 1863, the Civil War Draft Riots literally beating at the door, a wave of violence bent on destroying her home, in fact every Black owned home and business on Pearl Street, a pre-teen Maritcha Remond Lyons flees on foot with her mother and siblings across the Williamsburg Bridge. Their family home (where once Frederick Douglass had been their guest,) her mother’s hair salon, Maritcha’s school – all abandoned! Maritcha’s family makes their way north to New England, finally settling in Providence, RI, only to discover to their dismay there is no high school for Maritcha to attend. So, in 1865, Maritcha did what Black girls do ––– what Elizabeth Jennings had done in 1854 on NYC's Pearl Street when she had boldly boarded a segregated NYC streetcar and set in motion the desegregation of New York City’s transit system. Maritcha Remond Lyons, still a young teenager, mounted the imposing stairs and opened the imposing doors of The Rhode Island Supreme Court, addressed the Court, sued for her right to attend Providence Girls High School, and won. Years later Maritcha would return to Brooklyn and be a dedicated public school educator for the rest of her life, and always made good on her vow to never call Manhattan home again.
Today, stroll along Pearl St in New York’s Financial District, or consider Providence Girls High, or stare at the imposing doors of Rhode Island’s Supreme Court, do you know Maritcha lived there, walked there, studied and dreamed there, took matters of the law into her own hands there? Can one see or hear or experience any evidence of Maritcha’s existence? The history she survived and the history she set in motion?
In Brooklyn, there is a small parkette named for Maritcha during the pandemic, the time of reckoning. A spare bit of land, with thankfully some vibrant murals painted on the walls and ground. But what of Maritcha’s story? How might we co-conjure her in these very spaces? How might we activate her presence, her legacy, and make her contributions visible?
Nehassaiu deGannes, multihyphenate theater maker, poet and educator, has illuminated Maritcha’s story for over 7 years now by intentionally including her as one of 18 characters in an original solo-show, Door of No Return. That show has reached audiences in The Berkshires, The Hamptons, on Staten Island, in Syracuse and even at The Seaport Salon and Seaport Museum, a stone’s throw away from Maritcha’s childhood stomping grounds – but always in the context of a theatrical performance, for an audience that has chosen to come to the theater. But what of the ‘audiences,’ the everyday passersby, the children who run around the parkette, the “FiDi Bros” in Lower Manhattan, delivery persons, the great grandchildren of the students Maritcha educated, those of us who encounter these spaces? Are we co-conspirators in an erasure we may not wish to participate in? How might we resist and upend this silence? Inspired by the call to activate space and create public facing ‘monuments’ that serve to interrupt, disrupt and sing out against a century and a half of erasure, Nehassaiu deGannes will collaborate with digital theater-maker and projection designer, Shoshanah Tarkow, and local stakeholders, to create interactive digital theater installations to regenerate Maritcha Remond Lyons’ legacy in three sites: Pearl St in New York City; Maritcha Remond Lyons Park in Brooklyn; the site of the historic Providence Girls High School in Providence, RI and/or The Rhode Island Supreme Court.
These activations will include archival and performance projections onto the present-day architecture of these spaces, inviting us to consider what shimmers behind the seemingly static structures: what are the stories we walk by and wheel over, everyday? An assemblage of Nehassaiu’s original works about Maritcha, both performance and text, as well as excerpts from Maritcha’s own unpublished memoir housed at The Schomburg (permission willing) and/or excerpts from Tonya Bolden’s Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2005 (if permission is granted,) may accompany archival and original sound to enliven the walls of buildings, the old cobblestones of Pearl St, the site of the historic Providence Girls High (and/or The Rhode Island Supreme Court,) the park pavement, our hearts and minds. These projected installations will be accompanied by digital memory walks, in which participants use their cell phones to unlock portals and ‘step into’ buried footnotes and ‘elided’ sidebars to Maritcha’s story, such as her one true friendship at Providence High with Lucia Tappan, the grandniece of abolitionists; or the very real vestiges of trauma that made Maritcha vow to never again call Manhattan home.
Today, when one googles “desegregation of Providence schools,” the year 1865 pops up, but not Maritcha’s name. I look forward to the day when Rhode Islanders themselves will correct this google error. Here in Brooklyn – I envision enlivening Maritcha Remond Lyon’s parkette not only with dynamic projections and digital memory walks, but also with an interactive hopscotch game, an outdoor library and reading room and a longitudinal marathon reading of Maritcha’s own memoir...
More to come...
Today, stroll along Pearl St in New York’s Financial District, or consider Providence Girls High, or stare at the imposing doors of Rhode Island’s Supreme Court, do you know Maritcha lived there, walked there, studied and dreamed there, took matters of the law into her own hands there? Can one see or hear or experience any evidence of Maritcha’s existence? The history she survived and the history she set in motion?
In Brooklyn, there is a small parkette named for Maritcha during the pandemic, the time of reckoning. A spare bit of land, with thankfully some vibrant murals painted on the walls and ground. But what of Maritcha’s story? How might we co-conjure her in these very spaces? How might we activate her presence, her legacy, and make her contributions visible?
Nehassaiu deGannes, multihyphenate theater maker, poet and educator, has illuminated Maritcha’s story for over 7 years now by intentionally including her as one of 18 characters in an original solo-show, Door of No Return. That show has reached audiences in The Berkshires, The Hamptons, on Staten Island, in Syracuse and even at The Seaport Salon and Seaport Museum, a stone’s throw away from Maritcha’s childhood stomping grounds – but always in the context of a theatrical performance, for an audience that has chosen to come to the theater. But what of the ‘audiences,’ the everyday passersby, the children who run around the parkette, the “FiDi Bros” in Lower Manhattan, delivery persons, the great grandchildren of the students Maritcha educated, those of us who encounter these spaces? Are we co-conspirators in an erasure we may not wish to participate in? How might we resist and upend this silence? Inspired by the call to activate space and create public facing ‘monuments’ that serve to interrupt, disrupt and sing out against a century and a half of erasure, Nehassaiu deGannes will collaborate with digital theater-maker and projection designer, Shoshanah Tarkow, and local stakeholders, to create interactive digital theater installations to regenerate Maritcha Remond Lyons’ legacy in three sites: Pearl St in New York City; Maritcha Remond Lyons Park in Brooklyn; the site of the historic Providence Girls High School in Providence, RI and/or The Rhode Island Supreme Court.
These activations will include archival and performance projections onto the present-day architecture of these spaces, inviting us to consider what shimmers behind the seemingly static structures: what are the stories we walk by and wheel over, everyday? An assemblage of Nehassaiu’s original works about Maritcha, both performance and text, as well as excerpts from Maritcha’s own unpublished memoir housed at The Schomburg (permission willing) and/or excerpts from Tonya Bolden’s Maritcha: A Nineteenth Century American Girl. New York, NY: Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2005 (if permission is granted,) may accompany archival and original sound to enliven the walls of buildings, the old cobblestones of Pearl St, the site of the historic Providence Girls High (and/or The Rhode Island Supreme Court,) the park pavement, our hearts and minds. These projected installations will be accompanied by digital memory walks, in which participants use their cell phones to unlock portals and ‘step into’ buried footnotes and ‘elided’ sidebars to Maritcha’s story, such as her one true friendship at Providence High with Lucia Tappan, the grandniece of abolitionists; or the very real vestiges of trauma that made Maritcha vow to never again call Manhattan home.
Today, when one googles “desegregation of Providence schools,” the year 1865 pops up, but not Maritcha’s name. I look forward to the day when Rhode Islanders themselves will correct this google error. Here in Brooklyn – I envision enlivening Maritcha Remond Lyon’s parkette not only with dynamic projections and digital memory walks, but also with an interactive hopscotch game, an outdoor library and reading room and a longitudinal marathon reading of Maritcha’s own memoir...
More to come...
Sources | Samples | Dream Seeds
| excerpt__22maritcha___paul_cuffee_black_history_flash_card_dance_22.pdf |
"Marie Angelique" as notre chanteuse in hell - a performance excerpt from Door of No Return.
An example of how Nehassaiu spins historical research into innovative performance that upends expectations and resists erasure.
An example of how Nehassaiu spins historical research into innovative performance that upends expectations and resists erasure.