DAMASCUS, PA — Farm Arts Collective will host a Juneteenth gathering on Willow Wisp Organic Farm at 7 p.m. on Monday, June 19.

The evening commences with a staged reading of Janus Adams’ “St. Stephen: A Passion Play.” It features a cast of local performers, including Oliver King, Adrienne Jensen, Ashtyn Buckley, Robin Grey Wolf, John Roth, Jess Beveridge and Tannis Kowalchuk; and is directed by Mimi McGurl.

Following the reading, farm-fresh food and refreshments will be served alongside a community conversation hosted and moderated by Janus Adams.

“St. Stephen: A Passion Play” is a performance piece for actors, dancers and musicians; and is rooted in Afri-Caribbean ritual and experimental theater.

Adams penned it in 1981, and on June 19, the play will take on new life at Farm Arts Collective in honor of Juneteenth.

The main character of the performance is Lady, played by Adrienne Jensen―an ancestral spirit who appears to us as a bag woman.

Her home is Crossroads, a train terminal maintained by Keeper/Houngan, timekeeper/stationmaster and ceremonial priest. People come and go at all hours (symbolizing historic dates), and to and from the same destinations (destinies), keeping the all-too-human condition on track.

Adams took inspiration for the character of Lady by observing a real woman who resided in New York’s Grand Central Station.

In Lady’s shopping bags are bits and pieces of history she has preserved to tell us who we are, where we’ve come from and where we’re headed. At “home,” reading a crumpled newspaper, she learns about Stephen Biko, the South African medical/law student turned anti-apartheid freedom fighter.

In the Christian tradition, St. Stephen was the church’s first martyr, stoned to death for his beliefs. Stephen Biko was jailed for his anti-apartheid, anti-colonization, anti-oppression activism and beaten to near death while in police custody. Dumped by police, naked and shackled, outside a South African hospital in Pretoria on September 11, 1977, he died of a massive brain hemorrhage the next day.

Unable to save Steve, Lady knows she must preserve his story, must make known this St. Stephen’s martyrdom in the cause of universal human rights.

“St. Stephen” was given a staged reading by the Negro Ensemble Company in 1982. Adolph Caesar (best known for his role as Sgt. Waters in Charles Fuller’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “A Soldier’s Play”) directed the reading. In 1983, Amiri and Amina Baraka published an excerpt in their book, “Confirmation: An Anthology of African American Women.” In 1984, the Dramatist Guild selected the play for its tribute to women playwrights. Duane Jones staged and directed scenes from the play. Robert Nemiroff―whose devotion to the work of his wife, Lorraine Hansberry, brought her play, “A Raisin in the Sun,” to Broadway―approached Adams about staging “St. Stephen.” Ellen Stewart also committed. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine offered to house a production.  Unfortunately, due to unforeseen circumstances, the play never received a full production.

But the story is not over, and an audience will see “St. Stephen.” Artistic director Tannis Kowalchuk invited Adams to share her play for Juneteenth.

Farm Arts Collective is located at 38 Hickory Ln.

For tickets and more information, visit www.farmartscollective.org.

Story contributed by Farm Arts Collective.