Abstract
"In the years leading up to the American Revolution, two enslaved African women living in New England struck up a correspondence. Phillis Wheatley (Candis Hilton) lived in Boston and is considered to be the first African American poet of distinction. Obour Tanner (Inés De La Cruz) was the servant for a silversmith in Newport, RI who went on to found the African Female Benevolent Society in the early 19th century.
For her new play Wrestling With Freedom (which has been in development since 2017), Boston-based playwright, director, and actor Jacqui Parker has drawn from letters written between Wheatley and Tanner from 1772 to 1778. The correspondence is in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society and available on line." (from https://artsfuse.org/181042/theater-review-wrestling-with-freedom/)