WCU students and community got to learn a bit of American history through the story of York t as performed by Hasan Davis on Oct. 25 in University Center Theater in front of a small audience of around 30 people.
Davis on stage as he portrays his character, York during the performance at WCU on Oct. 25, 2018. Photo by Jonah Weston.
Written and starred by Davis, the monologue production tells a story of disappointment and trial as the slave known only as York experiences the tastes of freedom for the first time as he follows Lewis and Clark on their expedition in early 1800. During the 28-month journey with Lewis and Clark, York journals about his eye-opening trip to freedom. York’s life changes as he goes from slavery, to activist and explorer, only to return back to slavery.
The director of Intercultural Affairs, Dr. Donna Murray Patterson, was looking forward to the play adding that Davis has an “amazing ability to bring history to life in his portrayal of York.” This makes it a good opener for the current university-wide theme “Defining America.”
“Using his gift for storytelling and amazing knack for history, he will share stories of two American men who society had ‘counted out,'” Patterson said in an email message prior the event. “Silenced as insignificant, discarded as irrelevant, and relegated to secondary citizens, Hasan brings both perspectives squarely into focus and places them well within the ongoing conversation that we (at WCU) are embarking on to “Define America.”
Davis, is an actor, author and youth advocate. He is the author of “Written Off,” an autobiography about his experience with poverty, and co-author of the book, “The Journey of York: The Unsung Hero of the Lewis and Clark Expedition,” which is different from his play, but tells the same story.
“York is a piece of history. One day I was encouraged by a friend while I was on a tour in New York to tell a story of Lewis and Clark’s expedition. I started to build a picture of York, and at the same time, a group of letters were discovered in Louisville, Kentucky, from William Clark of the expedition, and I was thinking to myself, this story must be told,” Davis said during the Q&A session after the performance. Outside of acting and writing, Davis consistently tells his story to troubled youth. At age 11, he was arrested and later in his life expelled from high school. These lessons drove him into serving as Deputy Commissioner For Facilities and Operations for Kentucky Department of Juvenile Justice, from 2008 to May 2014. During that time, he created system for youth that had gotten in trouble with the law and recover from it. Davis believes in using his story for the good through his writing, acting, and speaking, as he said to the audience. And the audience seemed to appreciate it.
“I think it’s one of those stories that needs to be told so we as Americans can know of the atrocities we have committed and learn from them,” said Joshua Trumbull, audience member, on the lesson he learned from watching the performance.
Davis continues to travel the world telling the untold story of York, hoping to help define America, with one performance at a time.
“York” was part of the Western’s university-wide theme titled “Defining America,” organized by Intercultural Affairs Director Dana Patterson, and Angela Dills, Professor of Regional Economic Development. WCU’s goal behind this theme is to bring everyone on campus together to offer different perspectives of America inspiring students to evaluate their assumptions and values when they think of what citizens can do to help give America an uplifting identity, according to WCU’s news website.
