Celebrate Black History Month by going to see 'Hometown History' today at museum

The Center for African American History, Art and Culture has a theatrical event coming up today to celebrate Black History Month.

The Blue Bistro Theater troupe of Augusta will perform the original drama "Hometown History" at 6:30 p.m. at the Aiken County Historical Museum, located at 435 Newberry St.

The show, which integrates music and movement with more traditional theater set pieces, is written and directed by Blue Bistro founder and artistic director Anthony Page, a native of Belvedere.

Page offered his services after attending the Center's Hard Hat Tour of its York Street facility undergoing renovations, an outreach event held last December.

He bought a copy of "A Pictorial History of African Americans in Aiken County," a book of photographs and essays produced by the center, while on the tour and used some of the material in the book as the basis for parts of the script.

The script and event proposal were presented to the center's board of directors, which opted to produce the drama rather than its usual selection of a lecture on a topic related to Black History Month.

The plans for the drama with its variety of performance elements would be reflective of the center's plans for its multimedia, interactive educational content displays, the board felt, according to CAAHAC Executive Director Jo-Anne Saunders.

"Hometown History" is free and open to the public. For more information, call Jo-Anne Saunders at 649-2221, email jsaunder@aug.edu, or visit www.aikenculturalcenter.org.

Suzanne Stone is a general assignment reporter at the Aiken Standard. She is a graduate of the Savannah College of Art & Design and studied communications at Augusta State University. She is a native of Augusta, Ga. She was a reporter for the North Augusta Star before joining the Aiken Standard staff. Contact Suzanne Stone at sstone@aikenstandard.com, or follow on Twitter at #SuzanneRStone and on Facebook at Suzanne Stone | Aiken Standard.