Immersive Play Exploring Philly Anti-Slavery History Presented By Ocean City Arts Center

OCEAN CITY, NJ — An immersive play that takes attendees back in time to the 1800s will get another performance this weekend in Cape May Court House.

The Ocean City Arts Center will present a command performance of the play, "If She Stood," by Ain Gordon. It was first presented in celebration for Women's History Month.

The free, open to the public performance is set for 2 p.m. Nov. 15 at Christ Gospel Church Love Center, 2209 Route 9 South, Cape May Court House. It's sponsored by the NAACP-Cape May Chapter, Concerned Citizens of Whitesboro and Friends of OCAC.

According to the arts center:

Through the play, meet Philadelphia’s first multiracial collective of female reformers at the moment they chose to move. If She Stood is an immersive theatrical experience in which the performance space is transformed into a 19th century Quaker meeting – the time and place that gave birth to the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Audiences step into the minds of Sarah Mapps Douglass, Sarah Grimke, Angelina Weld Grimké, and Sarah Pugh, who collectively stood to abolish slavery, literally invent the women’s rights movement and right a host of societal wrongs. If She Stood reveals the conversation and the influential deeds of these largely-overlooked heroines and petitions us all to revisit the way we view our city’s rich history. Audiences discover their courageous work which framed the social discourse and struggles that helped shape Philadelphia and the nation as a whole – their story continues to have significant relevance to social conversations we are having today about social equality.

Ain Gordon’s "If She Stood" was commissioned by the Painted Bride Art Center in Philadelphia in 2013. This production is directed by Chase Jackson, Executive Director of the Ocean City Arts Center and stars Sarah Matthews (Cape May), Melisha Anderson (Whitesboro), Kelly Kunik (Ventnor) and Sparkle Prevard (Philadelphia).

Visit the Ocean City Arts Center website for more information and to reserve your seat, or call (609) 399-7628.