“Jubilee in the Rear View Mirrorâ€
by Garret Mathews garretmath@gmail.comÂ
My play about the civil rights movement – “Jubilee in the Rear View Mirror†— is part of the 20th annual Ann Katz Festival of Books & Arts at the Jewish Community Center in Indianapolis. It will be staged on Sunday, October 28 at 1:30 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. Individual tickets are $15 and can be obtained online or at the door.
  “Jubilee†is set in 1964 (Freedom Summer) in the fictional town of Jubilee, Miss. In the drama/comedy, a black civil rights volunteer, arrested for attempting to register African-American voters, shares a jail cell with a white racist.
“Jubilee†was first performed in the Indianapolis area during the 2017 IndyFringe Festival. Representatives of the JCC deemed it a good fit for the Festival of Books & Arts.
“Jubilee†is written by Garret Mathews, who is retired from writing the metro column for the Evansville Courier & Press. In researching the subject matter, Mathews interviewed more than three dozen men and women who went South in the 1960s to teach in Freedom Schools and to desegregate schools and other institutions. This civil rights material can be accessed by going to Mathews’ legacy website – www.pluggerpublishing.com — and clicking on Coming Together.
To prevent race-mixing, Southern segregationists insisted that entertainment venues be roped off to prevent blacks and whites from sitting together. This production replicates that practice. Audience members will receive symbolic tickets – not based on race – that reflect the separate seating of Whites and Coloreds.
The play contains adult language and themes and is not intended for children.
For online tickets, go to the Katz Festival of Books and & Arts site and scroll down to the “Jubilee†entry on October 28.
After the shows, Garret Mathews and cast members will take questions from the audience.
The Jewish Community Center is located on 6702 Hoover Road.
Foot Note: that we are roping off the theater (Whites on one side, Coloreds on the other) to reflect the KKK policy in the 1960s to prevent blacks and whites from sitting together.
