A quiet, powerful story of liberation

"No Strangers Here Today," a collaboration between Portland performance artist Susan Banyas and jazz musician David Ornett Cherry, is storytelling at its purest and most powerful.

Banyas' narrative, punctuated by gesture and movement, traces the story of Elizabeth Conard Edwards, Banyas' great-great grandmother, who helped fugitive slaves flee to Canada during the Civil War.

Banyas tells the story sparingly and respectfully, occasionally stepping aside to put events in the southern Ohio Quaker community in historical context. In doing so, she invokes voices of freedom, including those of Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, John Lewis and Henry David Thoreau.

Cherry's music quietly, yet movingly, frames the tale of one Quaker woman's contribution to the "Underground Railroad," a hallowed chapter in American history.

Sadly, as Banyas points out, much of the nation's history is stained with injustice and cruelty, from slavery itself to atrocities in Iraq.

But Banyas' telling of Edward's story shines like a lamp for us today. It is like a lantern used in the play—a light that guided fugitives across the Ohio River and out of oppression 150 years ago.

"No Strangers Here Today" continues at the Interstate firehouse Cultural Center through Sunday, Feb. 18, when there will be performances at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m.

Visit its web site for more information.

Links to the Underground Railroad

My Friend and fellow Quaker Susan Banyas has transformed a remarkable family discovery into an eclectic artistic work that will premier in Portland in mid-February.

Susan's discovery of the Civil War diary of her great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Edwards, was the inspiration for "No Strangers Here Today."

The diary, dated 1864, was written in code, strongly suggesting that Edwards and her family were links in the famous "Underground Railroad," a surreptitious network that lead escaped slaves from the South through the North and on to freedom in Canada.

Susan has told the story of her grandmother and the movement in a performance of music, dance and narrative.

The premier presentation of "No Strangers Here Today" will be Feb 16-18 at the Interstate Fireside Cultural Center. The production will then go to Los Angeles for a Feb. 25 performance.

For more information, visit the "No Strangers Here Today" web site.