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Watch documentation of Pope.L’s The Escape at The Art Institute of Chicago until January 29

Song, dance and shout (left to right: Gabriela Diaz, Adia Alli, Kyle Curry) 
POPE.L
The Escape
2018
The Art Institute of Chicago
Photo: Aidan Fitzpatrick

Video documentation of Pope.L's The Escape at The Art Institute of Chicago will be available publicly for a limited time. The Escape is an experimental restaging of one of the earliest extant pieces of African American dramatic literature: the 1859 play The Escape; or, A Leap to Freedom by the abolitionist and freed black slave William Wells Brown. Pope.L's rendition deconstructs and reassembles fragments of the original play, agitating and transfiguring the material in the process. The restaging took place at The Art Institute of Chicago between November 15 and December 6 of 2018.