Atlanta History Center Playwright Presents Plays For Juneteenth

“Museum Theater is a way of interpreting history, artifacts and exhibits outside of the confines of what we associate what happens in museums,” Moon said in an interview with Lois Reitzes. “It’s a great day gig for a playwright because I get to do a lot of research and a lot of writing and directing and work with really talented actors.”

Moon has tackled a variety of historical events in his work for the Atlanta History Center. His first play for the History Center was “Four Days of Fury,” which detailed the Atlanta Race Riots of 1906. In 2015, he debuted “Tomorrow is Another Day,” a fictional conversation between Margaret Mitchell and her assistant Betsy about “Gone with the Wind.”

Moon’s play “The Order of Freedom,” which will run six times this weekend, recounts the Juneteenth story through fictional characters Cora and James Lewis, two freed slaves figuring out citizenship. These characters’ stories are composites of oral histories and other accounts Moon researched while writing the play.  

“What I was really interested as a writer was this idea of freedom and how ambiguous that must have been for newly emancipated enslave people,” he said.

Another one of Moon’s plays being performed this weekend is “Clay: Palm to Earth.” It tells the story of Dave the Potter. A slave, he inscribed his pottery with poetry, a sign of resistance when it was illegal for a slaves to read and write.

“Clay: Palm to Earth” will be in the Exhibition Hallway of the Atlanta History Center on Saturday and Sunday at 12:15, 1:15, 3:15 and 4. “The Order of Freedom” is Saturday and Sunday at 12:30, 2:30 and 3:45 in the Kennedy Theatre. All events are free.