WJHCS 2023 FALL GALA

TICKETS: https://wjhcs.betterworld.org/events/2023-fall-fundraising-gala

WJHCS PRESENTS:

1 MAN PLAY ON U.K. SLAVE TRADE TO MARK DECADE OF WJHCS’ SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY

On Thursday, November 2nd, at 7:30PM, Witherspoon Jackson Historical and Cultural Society (WJHCS) will hold its annual fundraising gala at Morven. It will be open to members of the public with tickets.

I Dreamed I Was Free is a critically acclaimed one-man play about John Woolman, who spoke out against slavery over a century before the Civil War, was written by Rich Swingle and is performed by him. The play has received positive reviews from newspapers and magazines around the world. The play takes place on the floor of the Philadelphia Yearly Quaker Meeting of 1758, when they were considering the issue of slavery and made a historic decision. The issues raised by the play are electrifying, challenging audience members of all ages not to settle for what our culture declares to be the norm, challenging them not to let the curse of racism fall upon the next generation.

A Hot Seat which will follow the performance of the play allows John Woolman to field questions from the audience. Swingle stays in character, answering questions that arise for any of the characters he plays in the play. This can be as powerful as the play itself, allowing audience members to explore the themes that stirred them. There will be a complimentary wine and snack reception in the lobby after the performance.

Swingle has performed the play Off-Broadway, in Norway, Germany, Canada, and throughout the U.S. and U.K.

Rich Swingle has been writing and performing his own one-man plays since 1992, and I Dreamed I Was Free was his first feature-length play. He was raised in an Evangelical Quaker church and attended George Fox College (now University), named after the founder of Quakerism. He was intrigued by Woolman’s gentle approach to such a weighty issue. He’s since developed a dozen feature-length one-man plays and many more short scripts. He’s performed them in 39 nations on six continents. He’s an award-winning film actor and has contributed on both sides of the camera in almost 50 projects.

Swingle teaches acting and presentation skills and every spring he co-leads a workshop for J. Robert Hillier’s graduate seminar at the Princeton University School of Architecture: Starting, Building, and Operating Your Own Architecture Firm.

Please order your tickets here:

https://wjhcs.betterworld.org/events/2023-fall-fundraising-gala

*All but $10 of each ticket purchased is tax deductible*

To be a sponsor for this event please call us at (609) 688-9999, extension 213, or e-mail

Sponsorships are as follows:

Robeson Sponsor: $1,500, 4 tickets in VIP Seating + full page program advertisement

Waxwood Sponsor: $1,000, 2 tickets in VIP Seating + half page program advertisement

Floyd Sponsor: $500, 2 tickets in Preferred Seating + half page program advertisement

All sponsors will receive a special acknowledgement during the performance.

Program Advertisements can also be purchased separately: full page $400, half page $200