There Are NO Black Shakers

There Are NO Black Shakers is a contemporary folk opera re-interpreting traditional Shaker hymns to tell the story of Prime Lane, a free Black man who joined the Shaker Society in Albany in 1802. Nine years later he renounced the faith, attempting to take his family with him. When his daughters Betty and Phebe elected to stay in the covenant as Shaker sisters, Prime sued the Shakers. Not for custody of his daughters, but for theft of his property. [Born to a formerly enslaved woman whose freedom he bought, Prime could argue that the Shakers were holding his slaves.]

There Are NO Black Shakers gives voice to the silent history of the painfully gradual abolition of slavery of African Americans in New York State that, while resisted by many Abolitionist groups like the Shakers, remains invisible in the dominant historical narrative.

Written by Jean-Marc Superville Sovak, and under the musical direction of award-winning violinist Gwen Laster, There Are NO Black Shakers includes bassist Damon Banks, guitarist Patrick Jones, percussionist Todd Isler and the vocal talent of Aviva Jaye, Cleo Reed and Lawrence Street.

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