Fleeing slaves use them, posing in groups of 20 as a traveling church choir of free blacks. It's a good enough ruse for some towns. But here in Sharonville, the outsiders are being watched.

        They walk past a country store and a home where women gather at a quilting bee. They wear bandanas and shawls and sing “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd” — spirituals laden with hidden messages of freedom.

        Finally, inside Somerset Church, they breathe easier. There the Hatfields, a black abolitionist couple, split them into groups and give instructions for the next leg of their journey toward Canada.

        But, suddenly, they're trapped.

        John Riley, a notorious slave catcher, bursts through church doors, saying he's hunting for Matilda, a runaway slave. He looks at the group with suspicion.

        What happens next is up to the people assembled.

        Do they give in to intimidation and trickery and hand over the girl? Do they give up the abolitionists who've helped her?

        Will that help them reach freedom?

Volunteer slaves

        More than 950 Cincinnati-area families, schoolchildren, teachers and business people know the answers.

        They've lived the lives of these runaway slaves, if only for 90 minutes, in Cincinnati's Runaway Slave. It's an interactive drama in which real actors play historic characters in an authentic 19th century, Southern Ohio setting.

        As the enslaved, audience members are chained one to another. In the village square, men are separated from women, children from parents. (The play is not recommended for children younger than 10.)

        The enslaved men are called “bucks” and the women, “breeders.” They are abused and deprived and so frightened that they don't even look into the eyes of those who play the white towns people.

        They try to escape, but they aren't sure who to trust.

Diverse messages

        The subject of the play is slavery, but its themes — bravery and triumph over fear, despair and humiliation — are universal.

        Would you turn in someone else to save yourself? Or would you risk it all to help someone else to freedom?

        Most audiences have been racially mixed but predominantly white, says Lynn Elzey, a retired Princeton Schools teacher who wrote the play and collaborated with experts at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center.

        “If you can make them feel and experience history, they'll hold that forever.”

        The nonprofit Historic Southwest Ohio produces the play

        with grants from Procter & Gamble and the Fine Arts Fund and support from Queen City Off Broadway.

        Michael Prescott, chief executive officer of Huntington Banks' Cincinnati-area branches, used the play as a teambuilding exercise for top bank executives and members of his diversity team.

        “I've done it twice, and I would do it a third and fourth time. I look forward to it when my kids are old enough,” he says. “It really breaks down barriers and gives you pause to think and to realize how fortunate you are. It's also rich with Cincinnati history.

        “I believe in what they're doing.”

        The play begins its third season in November. Shows are scheduled for Nov. 8, 9, 10, 15, 16 and 17 and several days each in February, March, May and June. Tickets are $10 and $12.

        Call 681-2043 for tickets.

        E-mail damos@enquirer.com or phone 768-8395

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