Joe Jennison and Amy White spoke about how their play, Treasure: A History of Mount Vernon, came to be created and released earlier this year. The discussion happened at the Lester Buresh Family Community Wellness Center Tuesday, Sept. 19.
The play, sponsored by Mount Vernon Lisbon Community Theatre and Mount Vernon Historic Preservation Commission, premiered March 3 and was part of the celebration of Mount Vernon’s 175th anniversary as a community.
White noted the idea was one she had during the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting to one of her past play writing experiences for the Lisbon Sauerkraut Days 100th year anniversary in 2009. She wanted to do something similar for the history of Mount Vernon. She approached Mary Evans, a member of Historic Preservation Commission about the idea, and the group was interested.
Jennison said he had a call from White and Evans about the project and possibly writing, and of course wanted to join.
The duo started researching the book “The History of Mount Vernon” for stories from the town that could be easily recreated.
“One of our focuses and goals early on was expanding the representation of the experience of minorities and women in the history of this community,” White said. “While there were references to both in the book, we needed to seek additional resources to expand those areas.”
The duo found that while the Ruff family was mentioned in the history of Mount Vernon, not much was noted on his family being African American and how integral they were to some of the first businesses in the community on main street.
“We found that he started with a barbershop in uptown, and that grew to include a bakery, café and a few other establishments he and his family helped to run in the community,” White said.
Another area they wanted to include was the experience of the Black Hawk tribes in Mount Vernon and Lisbon communities. That was accomplished by including the diary entries of a French-Canadian trapper from these parts.
Jennison said that the framing device for the play came early, as he witnessed students in Memorial Park looking to dig for the potential hidden treasure referenced in The History of Mount Vernon buried there.
“It became a framing device to discuss what treasure actually could be found in that history book and sharing the stories of the town’s past,” Jennison said.
One of Jennison’s favorite parts of the history was including Martin Luther King, Jr’s visit to Cornell.
He noted that he and White did take some license for the dramatization between King and the housekeeper at Brackett house who would have served him breakfast because there is no recounting of what was actually said.
“We made sure to base as much of it as we could on what we could find in the research,” Jennison said. “That was the words of the speech he presented at Cornell and the establishment of the center for students of color on campus being created. Those items happened.”
One area that Jennison feels could have been included was something more recent in the town’s history, the Zip Code Day celebration. It was a unique festival and something people would have memories of in coming generations.
“That photo will be around and discussed in the future,” Jennison said. “That’s one of those stories it is important to include in writing and telling in the community’s history that shouldn’t be forgotten.”
The duo knew that when they started writing the play the biggest thing that people would remind them about was the person buried under Main Street having to be include in the play.
“It was the piece or tidbit that everyone was always asking about,” White said.
White said that while she and Jennison had a great time collaborating on this project, they write in very different styles. White was more focused on what might be seen on stage and how things were dramatized, while Jennison was focused on the dialogue and history being represented in the play.