Blood Done Sign My Name

Actor and playwright Mike Wiley. Photo: Steve Exum

Staff Reports

The Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place and UNC Asheville will present a dramatic staging of Tim Tyson’s critically acclaimed book, Blood Done Sign My Name, at 8 p.m. Thursday, October 21 in the Diana Wortham Theatre at Pack Place in downtown Asheville.

Presented in partnership with the Center for Diversity Education, UNC Asheville Department of Education, the Office of Teacher Recruitment, and Western NC Network for Access and Success, Blood Done Sign My Name brings to life the recollections of author Tim Tyson surrounding the 1970 murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow, who was black, and the subsequent acquittal of the three white men charged with his death – launching a season of violent reprisals in rural Oxford, NC.

Portrayed by acclaimed actor and playwright Mike Wiley, Blood Done Sign
My Name recounts how the conflagration of events shaped author Tim
Tyson’s life and offers an opportunity to examine our own roles in the
complex and often confusing racial fabric of America. Due to content,
this show is for adult audiences.

In conjunction with the performance at Diana Wortham Theatre, author Tim
Tyson will be present to lead a pre-performance discussion. Also in
Asheville for the performances is one of the nation’s leading civil
rights attorneys, James Ferguson, an Asheville native and founding
member of Asheville’s ASCORE (Asheville Student Committee on Racial
Equality) who helped prosecute Henry Marrow’s killer.

In 1970, Henry “Dickie” Morrow, a 23-year-old Army veteran, was chased
by three white men from a local store in Oxford after reportedly making a
crude remark to one of the men’s wives. The men brutally beat Marrow
then killed him with a bullet to the head in view of multiple witnesses.
One of the town’s white preachers, a United Methodist named Vernon
Tyson, attempted to soothe racial tensions by planning to have a
bi-racial burial ceremony for the youth, but hardly any whites attended.
Despite the eyewitness reports of the murder, an all-white jury
acquitted the men.

The town’s black community responded to the events with an uprising that
destroyed downtown businesses and several tobacco warehouses holding at
least a million dollars in harvested crops. Author Tim Tyson, the son
of the Reverend Tyson, was ten years old at the time and greatly
affected by the incident. He attempted to speak with the man who was
acquitted of shooting “Dickie” Marrow and ascertain why he killed
Dickie. The story, filled with the real-life denizens of Oxford and the
sinister racial tensions that existed and still exist today, became
Tyson’s award-winning memoir Blood Done Sign My Name.

Actor Mike Wiley has spent the last decade bringing educational theatre
to young audiences and communities across the country. During his
four-day residency in Asheville, Wiley will also perform Brown v. Board
of Education: Over Fifty Years Later at UNC Asheville’s Lipinsky
Auditorium on October 19, and as part of Diana Wortham Theatre’s School
Show Series October 20. Wiley will also teach theatre as a business and
theatre in social studies, and then team up with civil rights attorney
James Ferguson to speak to UNC Asheville students.

The Diana Wortham Theatre is located at Pack Square in downtown
Asheville. Its Mainstage Series is supported by a grant from the North
Carolina Arts Council, a state agency, and by season sponsors, and the
North Carolina Arts Council.

Tickets range from $30 to $10; for details or tickets, call the theater
box office at (828) 257-4530 or visit www.dwtheatre.com. 

On Thursday, October 21 from 12:15 to 1:20 p.m. Attorney James Ferguson and author Tim Tyson will reflect on the contemporary impact of events from Blood Done Sign My Name. UNC Asheville Highsmith Student Union, Alumni Hall. For more information call (828) 232-5024.

Pre-Show and Post-Show Discussions

To enhance patrons’ understanding of Blood Done Sign My Name, a pre-show discussion is held in The Forum at Pack Place at 7 p.m. prior to the October 21 performance. The pre-show discussion will be led by author Tim Tyson. After the performance, a post-show discussion will be led by Mike Wiley. Free for ticket holders. Visit www.dwtheatre.com for more details.

Blood Done Sign My Name’s Asheville performance is presented in partnership with the Center for Diversity Education, UNC-Asheville Department of Education, the Office of Teacher Recruitment, and Western NC Network for Access and Success.

The production is made possible by Mainstage Theatre Series Sponsors Grove Park Inn Resort and Spa, Michael & Catty Andry, and Drs. Lee and Mario DiCesare, and by Performance Sponsor Wachovia, with additional support from Media Sponsors News Radio 570 WWNC and 880AM The Revolution.