A performance walk from Joseph Rodman Drake Park to Hunts Point Riverside Park

May 10th, 2025

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Makeshift headstones scattered in an untended field. Barren trees lie in the distance. A gray and desolate sky surrounds. A 1910 photo titled Slave Burying Ground from the Museum of the City of New York is one of the few remnants documenting the site where Africans, enslaved by the Hunt, Legget and Willet families, were buried in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx. Located at what is now called Drake Park, the site houses the plots of the slave owning families. However, not a trace of evidence of the slave burial ground remains. 

This work honors the memory of the ancestors buried in Drake Park: Bill Swan, Aunt Rose, Robin, Hannah, Abram, Jenny, Tobe, Hannah, James, Fait, Hercules, George, Jacob, Ginne, Ginne, Tammes, Hester, Abigail, Robin, Agness, Abram, Titus, Tobe, Lilly, Gin, Dick, Luce, Ginne, Cuffee, Lew, Dick, Sharp, Tite, Ben, Bett, Lill, Harry, Lew, Jo, and Bell.

Written and directed by Alethea Pace 

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Performed by Maria Bauman, S T A R R busby, Imani Gaudin, Darvejon Jones, Alex Lasalle, Alethea Pace, Maleek Rae, Katrina Reid, Indigo Sparks

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Choreographed by Alethea Pace in collaboration with the performers 

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Music composed and arranged by S T A R R busby

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Lyrics by Alethea Pace 

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Additional music by Stevie Wonder

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Sound Design by MagnaSonus Production: Alex Glasgow and Bradley Totaro

Audio Engineering by Julian McClure and Jarrett Moses

Audio assistance by Aboeh Mackenold

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Mask Construction by Katherine Miranda 

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Costume design by Mauricio Barrera

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Production Management by Katya Moskalyuk

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Project Management by Kenia Rosete

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Creative Production by Dria Brown

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Special Guests: Umechi Born and Bolden Jones

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Community Partners: BronxArtSpace, Hunts Point Slave Burial Ground Project, Inspiration Point, The Point CDC, P.S. 48, Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School

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This work is supported by

BAAD!, Bronx Council on the Arts Cultural Visions Fund and Bronx Dance Fund, Loghaven Artist Residency, MAD Arts Residency at Modern Accord Depot, MAP Fund and The Metropolitan Museum of Art Civic Practice Partnership Residency.

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Much appreciation to previous collaborators Aleta Brown, Anthony Holiday, Adrian Martinez, Richard Rivera, Gabi Silva and Portia Wells

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Special thanks to Marquis Bradshaw, Alberto Denis, Kayla Hamilton, Leticia Peguero, Joanna Rice and Miguel from EDC for their invaluable support!!