Mabry-Hazen House presents one-act play
The Mabry-Hazen House will host its 5th annual Lineage & Legacy event on Sunday, September 30, from 2—4 p.m., featuring a one-act play imagining a debate between four Knoxvillians known for their experiences during the Civil War.
The annual event brings together the general public and descendants of one of Knoxville’s first and most dramatic families to reflect on the past and present experiences of the Mabry and Hazen families and their imprint upon Knoxville’s history.
The play will imagine a debate between Joseph A. Mabry, Ellen Renshaw House, Parson William Brownlow, and Cal Johnson regarding a divided Knoxville as it struggled with occupation, violence, loyalties, and meanings of freedom. Mabry was a “notorious rebel” and merchant; House was a diarist and a self-declared “very violent rebel;” Brownlow, also known as the “Fighting Parson,” was nationally known as a unionist and infamous newspaper editor. Cal Johnson was the son of an enslaved couple who rose to become Knoxville’s first African-American millionaire. Drawn from their own words and actions and supplemented with secondary sources, the play dramatizes the real experiences and lives of these four influential Knoxville characters.
The event serves as a membership drive, and as the annual meeting of the Mabry-Hazen House membership.
Guests will enjoy light refreshments as well as tours of the 1858 house and its original family collection. Picnic lunches are highly encouraged. Tickets cost $5 and support the museum’s mission to preserve and educate the public about East Tennessee history. Members attend free of charge.
Tickets are available for purchase at the museum or www.mabryhazen.com/.
Built in 1858, Mabry-Hazen House was occupied and defended by both armies during the Civil War.