SAN ANTONIO – The Witte Museum on Friday announced that the play “Ode to Juneteenth” will be brought back as part of the Gallery Theater performances that will be shown this fall.
The play, written by nationally renowned playwright Eugene Lee, was first shown in 2018 as part of the Witte’s “Confluence and Culture: 300 Years of San Antonio History”.
The museum said they were bringing the play back in celebration of Juneteenth.
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Juneteenth, also know as Freedom Day, is the annual celebration commemorating Major General Gordon Granger’s announcement in Galveston, Texas, that the Civil war was over and that all slaves were officially free. The news came nearly two-and-a-half years after President Abraham Lincoln’s famous Emancipation Proclamation.
According to a press release, “Ode to Juneteenth” follows Emancipation Jones, who begins the play by illuminating and commemorating Juneteenth in San Antonio by the reading of General Order No. 3 in 1865.
Jones then takes the audience on a journey of a century, to today’s usual celebration in Comanche Park. The dialogue uses preaching and hip hop and lots more along a journey of understanding of Juneteenth, the press release said.
The daily schedule of Gallery Theater and daily demonstrations can be found on both the Witte’s website and their app.
Gallery Theater performances are included as part of museum admission.