PA Historic Dramas (PAHD) is a Commonwealth-approved Educational Improvement Organization. As such, PAHD is permitted to solicit Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) funding from participating businesses to develop programs that benefit Pennsylvania schools.
1). As a pilot program, PAHD intends to produce a docudrama, chronicling the Christiana Resistance, a little-known but critical event in Pennsylvanian and American History. The finished film will be made available to every school district in Pennsylvania.
On September 11, 1851, an armed contingent of Maryland slavers, empowered by the Fugitive Slave Law, invaded a Quaker farm in Christiana, Lancaster County with the aim of kidnapping escaped slaves and returning them to bondage. Over sixty abolitionists and escaped slaves engaged them in a fierce standoff, and forced the slave owners back across the Mason-Dixon Line.
This depiction of American bravery will be done with professional re-enactments, and narration to cover powerful visuals, while graphic overlays will map the story. Guest speakers will be included for dramatic effect.
2). St.James’ Players, 2nd & Chestnut Sts in Lebanon, PA, is a theatre company to provide quality theatre productions, incorporating the talents of young people, with the goal of helping and uniting communities.
Auditions for the above pilot program as well as on-going talent search for staged productions which will include younger players and younger audiences. The St. James Players is a place where children are safe and feel valued. They are given freedom to express themselves on and off the stage. They learn much more than stage directions. They learn how very wonderful and special they are inside and out.
Upcoming projects include resurrecting and rearranging selected songs from the delightful musical, Here Comes Mister Hershey, which had a successful run from 2014-2017 in Hershey, Lebanon and Mt. Gretna. The story of Milton Hershey will let students know how the Milton Hershey School started as well as the trials and setbacks endured by Mr. Hershey as he persevered to build his candy company.
A third theatrical production involving film re-enactments will be Ironmaster, the powerful story of Robert Coleman, who came to this country from Ireland with only a letter of introduction. Coleman became General Washington’s dependable ally for munitions manufacturing for the Revolutionary War effort. As a merchant, Coleman also became close friends with Benjamin Franklin and Nicholas Biddle of Philadelphia, and through his enterprising mining of iron ore, became the state’s first millionaire.