Leslie McCurdy never expected to be an actor. Nearly three decades ago, she was on her way to New York City to be a professional dancer for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater when she fell and fractured her leg.
Soon thereafter, a good friend called McCurdy and asked if she had considered acting. He was directing a one-woman show on Harriet Tubman, the famous Underground Railroad conductor, and McCurdy’s hero since childhood. McCurdy said she didn’t know acting, but her friend said, “Yes, but you know Harriet.”
Since then, McCurdy has never looked back. Now, she brings her award-winning show “The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” to Mount Baker Theatre Feb. 21–22 as part of their family-friendly Out of the Box Theatrical Series. McCurdy plays Tubman from age 6 to 90, using her experience as a dancer to capture Tubman in many life stages.
When McCurdy began her tour 27 years ago, she was performing a different play on Harriet Tubman written by Karen Meadow Jones. Her director permitted her to continue the play when she ended her run. However, she got a cease-and-desist letter order from the playwright just as things started heating up.
McCurdy saw it as an opportunity to truly channel Tubman, and in three weeks, she wrote her one-woman play, memorized it in two days and performed it. She’s since taken the show to venues including the 2011 National Black Theatre Festival in North Carolina, the 2012 D.C. Black Theatre Festival Living Legacy Series and various other festivals, performing arts centers and schools across the U.S., Canada and even London.
“When I perform, I always ask [Tubman’s] spirit to help me with the performance to make sure that you know I do it well,” McCurdy said. “And part of why I feel that is because of my use of her words.”
Audience members feel this spirit and resonate with the message McCurdy shares through Tubman’s story, about believing in yourself and not letting fear stop you.
And when McCurdy travels the country alone, Tubman protects her.
“People say that I’m very courageous myself in the way that I travel so widely by myself, to tell that story,” McCurdy said. “And I just say, but I know I’m going to be safe because I’m guided … Harriet always felt that she was guided, so I feel that kinship.”
McCurdy also shares a side of Tubman that her audience may not know — like the fact that Tubman is the only person in U.S. Military history to lead a mission where there was no loss of life, leading 750 enslaved people to Beaufort, South Carolina. Or that she married a second time to a man 20 years her senior.
McCurdy finds Tubman guides her daily life, too; she grew up in Ontario, Canada, in a predominantly white neighborhood right as girls were permitted to play sports in school. McCurdy loved playing baseball and catching crawfish. She spent hours in the woods listening to birds.
The activities she loved as a young woman were not considered feminine, and it was the same for Tubman, who loved sports and had a similar childhood. She became a role model for McCurdy, giving her permission to be a “tomboy” and encouraging her to live her life with faith, courage and selflessness.
“I mean, it’s a blessing,” McCurdy said. “I get to make a living telling the story of the biggest hero in my life.”
And through her theater, McCurdy reminds us of our humanity:
“We would know nothing of the past, were it is not for the arts, literature, theater, music,” McCurdy said. “They connect us because everybody has a story.”
One of McCurdy’s greatest life stories is through Harriet Tubman — and this month, we get to take that journey with her.
“The Spirit of Harriet Tubman” runs Feb. 21–22 at Mount Baker Theatre. To learn more or purchase tickets, visit mountbakertheatre.com.
