Muscatine Community College, in collaboration with the Alexander Clark Foundation, proudly presents the 2025 Alexander Clark Lecture Series, an annual event celebrating Clark’s enduring legacy of justice and equality. This year’s program features the first public reading of an original play, "Barberman: The Alexander Clark Story," written by University of Iowa Playwright MFA candidate Cianon Jones. The event, free and open to the public, will take place on Thursday, February 20, 2025, at 6 p.m. in Muscatine Community College’s Little Theatre in Strahan Hall, 152 Colorado St.
Alexander Clark, a pivotal figure in Iowa’s history, moved to Muscatine in 1842 and became a successful businessman, civil rights leader, and the second African American graduate of the University of Iowa College of Law—preceded only by his son. He is best known for his landmark lawsuit against the Muscatine school board, which led the Iowa Supreme Court to desegregate the state's public schools—85 years before the national ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. He was also the spark behind the formation of the 1st Iowa Infantry Regiment (African Descent) during the Civil War.
"Barberman" delves into key moments of Clark’s life, exploring his personal and public battles for justice. The play introduces audiences to his wife and children, abolitionist John Brown, and Jim White, a formerly enslaved man whom Clark aided in 1848. It also incorporates Clark’s exchanges with renowned abolitionist Frederick Douglass.
Playwright Cianon Jones said, “I don’t want the play to feel like a history book because I’m not a historian. A lot of the information that I wasn’t finding detailed stories about, were these factual remnants of very personal moments in the Clark family’s lives. To me it was those moments, those emotional experiences, that really needed extra special care because those were the aspects that placed Clark and his family off of a pedestal and back into flesh and blood.”
Commissioned by Global Education at the Stanley Center and the Muscatine Art Center, the play is the result of a multi-year partnership aimed at expanding public engagement with Clark’s story.
“We initially brought the University of Iowa’s Darwin Turner Action Theatre to Muscatine, which sparked an interest in Clark’s story. The enthusiasm from Cianon Jones and the theater group quickly led to the idea of developing a play, said Krista Regennitter, Program Officer for Global Education at the Stanley Center.
The reading, featuring a talented ensemble of university actors, serves as an early glimpse into the production process. According to Melanie Alexander, Director of the Muscatine Art Center, the goal is to develop a full stage production during the 2025-26 school year in collaboration with the playwright and university students.
“The reading on February 20th will provide the playwright and the actors with some insight on how to further finetune the piece," said Alexander. "In 2023, the Muscatine Art Center developed an exhibition that included informational banners on Alexander Clark, and this play builds on that content in a way that further draws audiences into the ordeals and successes as they were experienced by Clark, his family, and his allies.”
Jones emphasizes the collective effort behind Clark’s achievements.
"Alexander Clark was not alone in making these things happen. In the same way, parts of my current liberties exist because of his actions. There were people before, and in the same time, and after, whose efforts shared in the construction for the steps he was able to make. After putting together the timeline of Clark’s life, his family, Iowa, the country and the world, the general narrative pretty much revealed itself."
The hour-long reading is free and open to the public, though some content may not be suitable for young children. A brief reception with the playwright and actors will follow in the lobby of Strahan Hall.
For more information, contact Melanie Alexander, Muscatine Art Center Director, 563-263-8282, malexander@muscatineiowa.gov