'Ocoee Project' remembers an American atrocity during voting season

The Department of Communication, Film, and Theatre at Eastern Connecticut State University brought history to life with "The Ocoee Project," performed from Oct. 15-20 in the Fine Arts Instructional Center Proscenium Theater. The play, written by English Professor Daniel Donaghy and directed by film Professor Brian Day, dramatized the events surrounding the 1920 Ocoee, FL, massacre, in which more than 50 African Americans were murdered by a white supremacist mob while exercising their newly granted right to vote.

The play featured evocative projections, crafted by theatre Professor Kristen Morgan that reinforced the gravity of the subject matter. Flashback scenes, historical imagery and montages of lynchings were used alongside music provided by the United Voices of Praise Gospel Choir.

The production followed the story of Mose Norman (Brandon Young '25), who was threatened while trying to exercise his right to vote. After being falsely accused of bringing a gun to the polls, Norman barely escaped and sought refuge with his friend July Perry (Eddie Cintron Santos '25).

The storyline around July's wife, Estelle Perry (Zolei Ari '27), and their daughter Corethea Perry (high school student Miko Royce-Day) highlighted the personal toll of racial violence during the massacre, with Corethea shooting Police Chief Sam Salisbury (Adam Rodowicz '26) in the arm after he and some Ku Klux Klan members invade the Perry homestead. July Perry was later lynched by a mob of Klansmen after telling his family to escape.

Other significant characters included Valentine Hightower (Beludji Narcisse '25), who noted that the push for Black men to vote was partly inspired by women gaining the right to vote that same year, and politician W.R. O'Neal (Jacob Wurst '25), whose campaign became a point of contention for white supremacist groups following the massacre.

The aftermath of the massacre was explored through modern parallels, notably a comparison to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. As part of Eastern's "Voting Matters" initiative, the audience of prospective voters reflecting on the butterfly effects of political violence was left with a haunting final statement from Norman: "What if the massacre never happened?"