(f) Steal Away Track

Traditional African American Spiritual Song.

This arrangement was for the play “A Darker Side of the Earth,” by Rita Dove, former Poet Laureate
of the United States. The performance was held at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, MN in 2000.

The play takes place on a slave plantation in the Southern United States.

The scene is of two groups of slaves on Sabbath Day. They are across a field from each another.
One group is praying and singing and doing sewing and mending. The other is dancing, drinking liquor, playing instruments and carrying on.

Growing up I would at times spend all day Sunday in church but most enjoyed being around people having fun and letting loose. The scene was a very familiar one to me.

“STEAL AWAY,” is a favorite.

Voice, triangle, stamping sticks on wooden box covered in a blanket.