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Friday, 12 February 2021
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Written by Audrey Hogue
The Fayetteville Transportation and Local History Museum has put together another fantastic African American exhibit to honor Black History Month. This local museum for the past three years has followed a theme to showcase African American professionals from Fayetteville’s history and will keep the exhibits up for a year after they are revealed.
This year the museum released an exhibit on Feb. 2 to honor African American architects. This exhibit is focused on bringing awareness and attribution to these early builders and historic buildings in the downtown area.
These architects were from the Fayetteville area and some of these buildings are still standing today. There is a “rich history” in Fayetteville and this museum allows people to step back in time to really understand the historical roots.
Catherine Linton, the Museum Specialist, is the one that helped bring to life this year’s exhibit entitled, “African Americans Building Fayetteville.” She is a former museum specialist with the Country Doctor Museum at East Carolina University.
“Some buildings that are attributed to these builders are not standing today, but we want to bring attention to the ones that are, to bring history and awareness to the community,” said Linton in describing the focus of this exhibit.
One of the builders that really stood out to Linton while assembling the exhibit was Abel Payne. Payne was an enslaved man that eventually purchased his freedom, but continued to work as a carpenter to afford freedom for his children. Linton said the story stood out to her because it is a “good story about overcoming obstacles.”
This year’s exhibit is the third one the museum has done to follow the theme of African American professionals in Fayetteville’s history. The first exhibit the museum did in 2019 was about African American businesses, followed by the 2020 exhibit about African American doctors. Last year’s exhibit still remains on the first floor to the right of the entrance until the end of February 2021. This new exhibit, “African American Builders,” will remain until the end of February 2022.
The museum is located in the restored 1890 Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Railroad Depot, with two floors of exhibits and artifacts. It is open to the public of all ages and guided tours are available for schools, church groups, home school groups and more. They also offer activities such as walking tours of downtown, bus tours, a Saturday farmers market, and more for children and adults.
The museum annex is next door for continuous history on the Fayetteville area.
For more information visit the Fayetteville Transportation and Local History Museum at www.fcpr.us, and they are open Tuesdays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pictured: The Transportation and Local History Museum opened a new exhibit on Feb. 2 in honor of Black Histoy Month. "African Americans Building Fayetteville" highlights Black architects and builders in Fayetteville's history. The exhibit will be on display for one year. The 2020 Black History Month exhibit about African American doctors will be on display until the end of this month.
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Monday, 25 January 2021
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Written by Keyuri Parab
The Gilbert Theater’s newest production “Rope” is set to open Jan. 29 and has already sold-out opening day.
The thrilling drama centered around a murder, once used as the basis of the Alfred Hitchcock film “Rope,” will play every weekend until
Feb. 14.”
Tickets are $16 per person, and $14 with senior (55+) and military discount are available for purchase on the theater’s website, or by calling 910-678-7186.
“’Rope’ is basically the opposite of ‘who done it?’ because you already know who’s done the murder and now it’s all about are they going to get away with it,” Matt Gore, director of the play, said. “It's darkly humorous where these two guys kill this 19-year-old young man, stuff him in a chest and decide to have a dinner party around his corpse.”
It’s mostly just a study in tension, and the building of tension and suspense, said Lawrence Carlisle, artistic director at the Gilbert Theater.
Beyond picking the play for the season, Carlisle will be acting in the play in the role of an acquaintance of the two murderers who invite him to the dinner party to flaunt the crime.
My character slowly starts to have some suspicions, he said.
Carlisle said he had not acted in a production for a while and thought it would be exciting to audition and act again.
“I just like the experience of it and having fun with the other performers and learning things from the director to use when I direct things,”
he said.
Carlisle picked “Rope” written by Patrick Hamilton, to include in this year’s season because he liked the story, a thriller, and he didn’t think those are seen often enough in theaters.
“It’s been a little bit of a challenge, you know, I still have to deal with the day-to-day and making sure that things are running smoothly on an administrative level while also learning a whole bunch of lines, worrying about costumes, stuff I usually don't have to worry about,” he said.
“Rope” is loosely based on the “Leopold and Loeb” murder in the 1920s. Guests can look forward to a night of suspense and thrill.
“The practices have been super smooth, I like working here and they have some very dedicated people working here behind the scenes, in the offices,” Gore said.
Things are going fairly well, all things considered, Carlisle said.
The production will be about two hours long with a ten-minute intermission.
Theater staff will conduct temperature checks at the door and offer socially distant seating with only up to 25 people per show. Masks will be required, and the staff will be sanitizing everything between each show.
“I hope people want to come see it, I know things are bad right now in the world, but what I have been trying to do since the start of this pandemic is hopefully have a place where people can come and forget about that even if they do have to wear their masks and socially distance, and not speak to the actors afterwards but some sacrifices have to be made,” Carlisle said.
For more information about the theater, production and tickets, visit https://www.gilberttheater.com
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