The Vanport Mosaic presents Martha Bakes, a new play for the American stage by Don Wilson Glenn, directed by Damaris Webb, starring starring Victoria Alvarez Chacon and Melanie Moseley.
Martha Bakes: a Biography of a Revolution and Insurrection that Never Happened by Don Wilson Glenn, is a world premiere, commissioned by The Vanport Mosaic to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th amendment.
Using the device of the one-woman show, Martha Bakes takes a satirical lens to American Colonial HerStory. Part historical biography, part cooking show, and all physical theater, we are invited into the relationship between Martha Washington, our original First Lady, and her dower slave Oney Marie Judge during an imagined slave revolt on Mount Vernon.
The play begins with Martha, the fresh widow of George Washington, socially distancing herself during a fictitious slave uprising on Mount Vernon. The slaves have learned the contents of George’s will declaring that the over 350 enslaved bodies on the plantation are to be set free – upon the death of Martha. Enduring her new found circumstances with a pleasant disposition, Martha bakes us a three-course meal during the revolt, as she barricades herself in the kitchen and with each preparation reflects on her influential role with scant representation in the creation of our Nation. That the suffrage and abolition movements are not always easy bedfellows echo the legacies of
racism, sexism and voter suppression that our Nation is still struggling to unpack today. The Vanport Mosaic is a memory-activism platform. We amplify, honor, present, and preserve the silenced histories that surround us in order to understand our present, and create a future where we all belong.
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