‘Liberty to Go to See’ brings slaves’ history to life at Cliveden

A new interactive historical, theatrical experience at Germantown’s Cliveden gets its title from a letter written by a man named Joseph, a slave of the Chew family, asking Benjamin Chew if Joseph could move to another plantation to be closer to his wife.

Liberty to Go to See, created by New Freedom Theatre, is the product of a yearlong partnership between the Cliveden historic site and Philadelphia Young Playwrights (PYP), and is being performed throughout the Cliveden house through June 20.

According to Cliveden, teenagers working with PYP researched the Chew Family Papers, a historical treasure trove relating to an American family whose life here predates the Revolutionary War by about 150 years.

The Englishman John Chew came to Jamestown in 1622, and for centuries, the family’s economic interests, from opium to textiles and at least nine plantations worked by slaves, influenced the economy across several nearby states. John’s descendant, Benjamin Chew, arrived in Philadelphia in 1736 when he became associated with the legal interests of the William Penn family. The Chews were noted philanthropists as well as slave-owners, and the modern historic site “explores the human stories involved in maintaining such a lifestyle often on the backs of enslaved and indentured servants.” (Learn more about the family history here.)

The Liberty to Go to See script focuses on the stories of people who lived and worked at Cliveden from the 1760s to the 1860s. The show, guided by a narrator named James Smith, a freed African servant, will bring audiences (limited to just 20 people per performance) throughout the main Cliveden house. It’s directed by Johnnie Hobbs and produced by New Freedom Theatre.

Liberty to Go to See is running at the Cliveden House, 6401 Germantown Avenue, in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, on Thursdays and Fridays, June 11, 12, 18, and 19 at 7pm, and at noon and 3pm on Saturdays June 13 and 20. Admission is $12 (advance tickets required; click here). The show runs approximately 90 minutes, including pre-performance activities and a post-performance discussion. For more information, visit www.cliveden.org.