Hattiloo wins grant for play on Confederate statues
Hattiloo Theatre, the only black repertory theater in the Mid-south, has won a grant to produce a new play about the removal of Memphis’ Confederate statues in 2017.
The theater, which is adjacent to Overton Square in Midtown Memphis, was awarded a grant of $18,725 to develop “Take ‘Em Down 901,” a one-act play about the grassroots movement that pushed for the uprooting of statues of Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest, President Jefferson Davis and Capt. J. Mathes from two Downtown parks.
The play is one of 42 original, live performance projects selected to receive part of the $1.3 million in funding available this year from the New York-based MAP Fund.
MAP Fund’s web page for the Hattiloo project had more detail about the play’s subject:
“The script will be developed by (Hattiloo founder and chief executive) Ekundayo Bandele to tell the story from the perspectives of the group of roughly 50 concerned citizens who succeeded in legally toppling the controversial landmarks, in the process, upending the powerful institutions that had long protected them and the enduring legacy of oppression they represented for Memphis’ marginalized majority,” the MAP fund site read.
Since the removal of the statues, some activists — including Memphis mayoral candidate and Shelby County Commissioner Tami Sawyer — have accused mayor Jim Strickland and his administration of trying to downplay the role activists had in it.
After the Tennessee Historical Commission denied a request to remove the statues in October 2017, the Strickland administration and the Memphis City Council worked together behind the scenes to sell the statues in December 2017 to nonprofit Memphis Greenspace Inc., which then removed and stored the statues.
Columnist Ryan Poe writes The 901, a running commentary on all things Memphis. Reach him at poe@commercialappeal.com and on Twitter @ryanpoe.