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    Let Freedom Ring: Based on a True Story...Almost!
    Let Freedom Ring: Based on a True Story...Almost!
    Let Freedom Ring: Based on a True Story...Almost!
    Ebook150 pages1 hour

    Let Freedom Ring: Based on a True Story...Almost!

    By Ted Lange

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    About this ebook

    Chaos, comedy, and collusion resound when a group of black men conspire to steal the Liberty Bell before it can be rung on George Washingtons birthday on February 22, 1846. This band of black folks meets in Philadelphia at the Golden Fleece Tavern and their plot includes a secretive black barmaid and a female white abolitionist writer. What makes them think they can do it? How in the world will they do it? Will the mystery of the Liberty Bells famous crack finally be solved? Let Freedom Ring, is based on historical imagination and combines Langes signature comedy and drama as it reverberates issues of change and hope that still vibrate today.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTrafford Publishing
    Release dateMay 7, 2014
    ISBN9781490732145
    Let Freedom Ring: Based on a True Story...Almost!
    Author

    Ted Lange

    Ted Lange personifies the Renaissance Man Theatre Award he received from the NAACP. A graduate of London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts, Lange’s career has gained global recognition as a gifted actor of stage and screen, revered director, and prolific writer. Lange has penned twenty-four plays, including his historical trilogy George Washington’s Boy, The Journals of Osborne P. Anderson, and Lady Patriot. Other plays include Four Queens—No Trump, a comedy that played to rave reviews and won NAACP Best Play; Lemon Meringue Façade, produced off Broadway in New York; and Behind the Mask, Lange’s one-man show on the life of Paul Laurence Dunbar, which toured nationwide. Additional plays are Evil Legacy—the Story of Lucretia Borgia and Born a Unicorn, a musical about Ira Aldridge. Lange garnered worldwide fame for his portrayal of Isaac from The Love Boat.

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      Book preview

      Let Freedom Ring - Ted Lange

      © Copyright 2014 Ted Lange.

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

      ISBN: 978-1-4907-3213-8 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4907-3215-2 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4907-3214-5 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2014905693

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

      and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

      Trafford rev. 05/02/2014

      22970.png www.trafford.com

      North America & international

      toll-free: 1 888 232 4444 (USA & Canada)

      fax: 812 355 4082

      CONTENTS

      SPECIAL THANKS

      AUTHOR’S NOTES

      SYNOPSIS

      CAST OF CHARACTERS

      ACT I

      SCENE II

      ACT II

      SCENE II

      SCENE III

      MUSICAL NOTES

      NOTES FOR THE ACTORS

      Dedicated to the Memory of

      Yolanda King

      I had the pleasure of sharing the stage with Yolanda,

      a funny, perceptive, and talented actress.

      "Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

      From every mountainside, let freedom ring."

      Quote from a speech given by Yolanda King’s daddy on

      August 28, 1963, in Washington D.C.

      SPECIAL THANKS

      Stan Harrington & The Stella Adler Theatre

      Ernest Dillihay, Turi Haim, Thom Marshall,

      Suzanne & Paul Pape

      Eugenia Wright

      Ted Lange IV & Turner Lange

      I would like to thank my wife, Mary,

      for all of her talent and patience.

      Let Freedom Ring opened September 3, 2010 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, California with the following cast:

      *Actors that alternated their roles.

      AUTHOR’S NOTES

      George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln . . . famous names synonymous with early American history. We know these names. We learn about them in school and they are featured in all our history books. West Ford, Prince Africanus Jr., Richard Allen Jr., Sarah Moore Grimke, Hercules . . . what are these names synonymous with? We don’t learn about them in school. They are not featured in our history books, yet, they also played a vital role in our country’s early path to independence and freedom. I love historical research and over the years have written a number of historical plays. This research has led to the discovery of names of hidden heroes and untold stories. Names forgotten in our history books. Names lost in the passage of time. Names of Americans that have been denied their unalienable rights as heroes.

      Let Freedom Ring evolved with the desire to weave a believable tale that would bring some of these unknown names together. Philadelphia during the time period around Washington’s birthday was a viable setting. I needed a MacGuffin or an event to bring these heroes together - a plot to entertain us and at the same time educate us about these little known Americans. The Liberty Bell in Philadelphia was traditionally rung on Washington’s birthday . . . but it doesn’t ring anymore, it’s cracked . . . hmmm how did it get cracked? Aha! I could hear it as clear as a bell . . . chaos, comedy, and collusion resound when a group of black men conspire to steal the Liberty Bell before it can be rung on George Washington’s birthday on February 22, 1846.

      My co-conspirators include West Ford, the black son of a slave named Venus and George Washington. Venus served in the Washington household and identified Washington as the father. Disputed by many historians to be true, there is evidence to the contrary. West was given his freedom when he reached the age of twenty-one and 160 acres of land next to Mount Vernon. No other slave was provided for in this manner and he bears an uncanny resemblance to Washington. Is it possible? Do Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings ring a bell?

      Prince Africanus, Jr. was the grandson of Prince Hall, the founding father of the African Americans Freemasons Lodge. Prince Hall lived in Boston and started what became a segregated branch of freemasonry. He gave his children a new surname, Africanus. Ding, ding, two bells ringing . . .

      Richard Allen, Jr. is the son of Richard Allen, one of the founders of the African Methodist Church, which later became know as the African Methodist Episcopal Church, or A.M.E. Richard Allen was very involved in the black community and although born a slave, he was able to attain his freedom. Richard Allen, Jr. would have been very involved with the politics of the day. Now my band includes opposing viewpoints: Prince Africanus, Jr. would be the Malcom X of that time and Richard Allen, Jr, Martin Luther King, Jr. Collusion is never a simple ring.

      Behind every famous man is . . . of course, a woman. Sarah Moore Grimke was a white woman, who was independent, strong, opinionated, and

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