
Tribune-Review – Quantum Theatre’s new production will shine a light on a historical rebel you won’t find in textbooks.
Benjamin Lay was an 18th-century abolitionist and animal rights advocate. He was also part of the Quakers, a Christian religious community heavily present in Pennsylvania at the time he was alive. Lay was born in England and made his way to Barbados — where he witnessed the brutality of slavery — before settling in Pennsylvania.
But Lay was too radical for the Quakers, who eventually expelled him for his dramatic shows of protest. In the one-man play “The Return of Benjamin Lay,” penned by Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker, the stalwart activist comes back to life to plead his case to a modern audience — and teach us lessons that are still relevant today.
Quantum Theatre is bringing the one-man show to the Braddock Carnegie Library from Jan. 31-Feb. 23.
The script was a “true collaboration” between veteran playwright Wallace and career historian, professor and writer Marcus Rediker. Rediker literally wrote the book on Benjamin Lay. He has also taught at the University of Pittsburgh since 1994 and is currently a Distinguished Professor at the school.
Wallace and Rediker have known each other for decades, but while they have worked together on previous projects — he served as a historical consultant on her 2015 play “The Liquid Plain” — it wasn’t until “Benjamin Lay” that they wrote together.
”I don’t easily say I want to write with people because it can be really tough to collaborate,” Wallace said. Reading Rediker’s published books on history convinced her. “I saw that he had real imaginative capacity because … Marcus would write about various historical characters and they were like little playlets. I already saw the capacity for drama, the best kind of drama that brings history alive onstage in an imaginative way.”
Rediker has written numerous books concentrating on what he calls “history from below,” the perspective of history from workers and everyday people. Those books include “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea” and “The Slave Ship: A Human History.” He was in the process of writing “The Fearless Benjamin Lay: The Quaker Dwarf Who Became the First Revolutionary Abolitionist” when he and Wallace decided to write this play together.
Both Wallace and Rediker were fascinated by how ahead of his time Lay was and how passionate he was about justice. “Not only was he a pure spirit, he was a difficult spirit … Marcus and I were drawn to him for that, as well,” Wallace said.
It was a rewarding writing process for both of them, but not without its lessons.
“I had to learn a lot to do this. I knew a bit about the theater, but I’d never written anything like this, so Naomi had to teach me a lot,” Rediker said.
The play premiered in 2023 at the Finborough Theatre in London. Quantum’s production is its American premiere. The play found its way to the Pittsburgh company through the play’s director, Ron Daniels, and his contact, Rob Orchard, who referred them to Quantum artistic director Karla Boos.
“I think he probably knew Quantum as a daring and creative theater company, and I think he also knew this was a Pennsylvania story,” Rediker said.
Both Wallace and Rediker emphasized that the play’s success has been in large part because of Daniels’ direction, and also the portrayal of Lay by actor Mark Povinelli. Both contributed to making the script feel complete and alive.
Daniels’ experience with the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company was a particular asset, the playwrights said. “Ron is very convincing. But I would say that under his guidance — his directorial eye — he has helped us sharpen the play and deepen the play, and we’re very lucky to have a director who is that involved in the actual imaginative vision of the play,” Wallace said.
Rediker added that Daniels’ expertise in different types of speech came in handy.
“The language in our play is complicated. It’s not that it’s difficult to understand, but there is 18th-century speech, we have a few small segments of Benjamin’s writing in there so you can hear his voice directly, there’s sailor speech, there’s Quaker speech.”
As for Povinelli, both Wallace and Rediker are amazed by how much he embodies Lay, which is in itself a challenging task.
“As Naomi said, this extremely difficult man, he was a tough character to deal with and very complex. And rhetorically very skilled, so much so that people were scared to debate him because he would just tear you apart. Mark has been an extraordinary part of this team,” Rediker said.
Benjamin Lay was a little person, standing four feet tall. The team behind “The Return of Benjamin Lay” always knew that they would cast an actor who was a little person. Povinelli was president of Little People of America for six years and has himself noted how exceptional this play is for having a little person in a lead role.
Benjamin Lay may sound like an intimidating subject for a 70-minute one-man show, but Wallace has words of reassurance.
“One might hear this and say ‘Ooh, is this some kind of history lesson?’ It is the farthest thing from that. There is joy in this production, there is hilarity in this production, there is a connection with the audience that’s a very important part of him coming to speak with us again,” Wallace said.
“The Return of Benjamin Lay” will run from Jan. 31 to Feb. 23 at the Braddock Carnegie Library. For information and tickets, visit quantumtheatre.com.