Drew Barker

Drew Barker is the Performing Arts Librarian at the University of Maryland, College Park. He holds a MA in Theatre and Performance Studies and a MLS, both from the University of Maryland. As dramaturg he has worked at UMD's Fearless New Play Festivals, Triad Stage (NC), Round House Theatre (MD), Center Stage (MD), and Theatre J (DC). Most recently he curated the exhibit Remembrance & Resilience (2021) and The Triumph of Isabella: Exploring Performance Through Art (2018-19) in the gallery at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. His current research and writing projects include information literacy, the American Civil War, and the working relationship between playwright Naomi Wallace and historian Marcus Rediker.

National Endowment for the Humanities’ Emancipation Nation Student...

Drew Barker is the Performing Arts Librarian at the University of Maryland, College Park. He holds a MA in Theatre and Performance Studies and a MLS, both from the University of Maryland. As dramaturg he has worked at UMD's Fearless New Play Festivals, Triad Stage (NC), Round House Theatre (MD), Center Stage (MD), and Theatre J (DC). Most recently he curated the exhibit Remembrance & Resilience (2021) and The Triumph of Isabella: Exploring Performance Through Art (2018-19) in the gallery at the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. His current research and writing projects include information literacy, the American Civil War, and the working relationship between playwright Naomi Wallace and historian Marcus Rediker.

National Endowment for the Humanities’ Emancipation Nation Student Creative Writing Award (1st Place) for the one-act play, “Freedom’s Fortress,” based on documents from the Freedmen & Southern Society Project (2012)

Scripts

Freedom's Fortress

by Drew Barker

Synopsis

Two runaway enslaved people, Florence and Micah, approach Fort Monroe during the Civil War looking for freedom and their sister, but are immediately rebuffed by a Union soldier, and then discover that their sister is missing. As they try to find her, Union policies threaten to split them apart while they must also confront the ghosts of Jefferson Davis and Black Hawk.

Two runaway enslaved people, Florence and Micah, approach Fort Monroe during the Civil War looking for freedom and their sister, but are immediately rebuffed by a Union soldier, and then discover that their sister is missing. As they try to find her, Union policies threaten to split them apart while they must also confront the ghosts of Jefferson Davis and Black Hawk.