Not enough Greensborians realize that our city held such an instrumental action during the Civil Rights Movement. On February 1, 1960, four African American students, from NC A&T State University, sat at a segregated lunch counter in the downtown Greensboro, North Carolina Woolworth’s store on Elm Street. Little did they know that their actions would create a sit-in movement which spread to 15 cities in 9 states in only a couple of months.
As part of Greensboro’s Bicentennial celebration playwright Ed Simpson was commissioned to create a performance around the Greensboro sit-ins. Rather than focusing on the 4 who took the amazing first step in the sit-ins the play, Periphery, expresses the thoughts and feelings of everyone else surrounding the event. Students, business owners, black, white, young and old - each displays their perspective while acting out factually based events.
Last night the play officially opened downtown at the Greensboro Historical Museum (130 Summit Avenue) and will continue running May 15, 16 and 17 at 8:00 PM and Sunday May 18 at 2:00 PM. Adult tickets are $20, seniors $18 and all students are FREE. You can call 333-SHOW (7469) for tickets and visit the Community Theatre of Greensboro site for more information. It’s about 1 hour and 30 minutes long, fun, enlightening, humorous, fast-moving and quite uplifting. This photo shown above is from the opening night performance of Periphery which had actual chairs/stools from the Woolworth’s counter that were part of the Greensboro sit-ins. The chairs were graciously lent to add richness to the performance.
Please see the show and remember the incredible events that happened in our community less than 50 years ago. It’s an eye opening perspective and helps us appreciate where we are today. Personally, I was excited to realize that my running route goes along the same path that 1000+ NC A&T students marched down Market Street to participate in the sit-in movement.