HOW THE PRODUCTION CAME TO BE….

PRODUCTION BACKGROUND:

The professional production of Henry Box Brown: A Musical Journey was inspired by young performers of the New York Children’s Theater Company, who’s largely African American youth participants asked the Company’s Artistic Co-Directors, Mehr Mansuri (Henry Box Brown writer, co-composer, producer, and Co-Composer) and Eric Dozier (Co-Composer, Black Music Historian, Gospel Music Director) and Frank Sanchez (Co-composer), as to why “there was no musicals about their history…about the African American experience. Is there a “Les-Mis” that is centered on American History / Black history?”

In response, Mehr and Eric embarked upon reading dozens of slave narratives- in search for a true story to adapt into a musical. In their research, Mansuri, who did not grow up in America, discovered that these slave narratives were verbatim transcripts from former slaves, who lived to tell about their experiences which were then published into compilations (categorized and codified by the Library of Congress). She also learned that these slave-narratives were largely dismissed as being more folklore than fact. Luckily, upon encountering the Narrative of Henry “Box” Brown, she also learned that he was a man of music, poetry and prayer, and had published and sold-out his own narrative – which he then performed as a solo artist, box and all. 

The Mansuri-Dozier-Sanchez team found their story. To support the musical adaptation, Eric, who’s music and choral-ministry fills stadiums around the world, and was completing a doctorate in African American music, began arranging negro spirituals for the show, while Frank and Mehr began crafting character-driven and original songs.

Co-Composer, Eric Dozier says, “As we resurrected the inner life of a people who lived 200 years ago,  we realized that their struggles evoke our own familiar and damaged present.”  Says Eric Dozier, Co-Composer / Black Music Historian.

Having escaped religious persecution from her native Iran, Mansuri felt emboldened by the theater’s power as a tool for moral reasoning - and the audience as a protagonist in the drive towards social change. As such, Mehr then began working closely with MacArthur Fellow, author and professor, Dr. Joy DeGruy, best-selling author (Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome) who offered dramaturgical support to ensure factual accuracy and who, in partnership with Eric Dozier, led an advisory team on how to approach Henry’s story with young people, parents and audiences. The result was a multifaceted audience-driven approach towards dialogue and social action.

Writer, Composer, Mehr Mansuri says, “I believe theater is transformative and creates the empathy and compassion necessary to drive social change and racial justice. Our job in the theater is really to build empathy and to provide this tiny little window into the world of another person, and once we are able to inhabit the space of another, we begin to move toward healing. Our hope is to break through the traditional barriers that exist between audience and artist; where we can see how dialogue and empathy are inextricably linked- and where we can engage with audiences as protagonists.”