Versatility is a priced asset in theater and Connecticut should rank right up there. Our lovely little state can hop into the dressing room, come out and play convincing roles as a 1950s college campus in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull or Mr. Deeds’ mythical hometown of Mandrake Falls.
Sunday, Connecticut takes on a more serious role, as the setting for Frederick Douglass’ life story and his escape from the horrors of slavery at the age of 20.
The world premiere of "Frederick Douglass: Pathway From Slavery to Freedom" will be broadcast on CPTV Sunday at 6:30 p.m.
It is the first in a new series called Young American Heroes was filmed entirely in Connecticut.
The show also stars Hamden Middle School student Kendall Jones as the 8-year-old Frederick and Norwalk Elementary School student Malik Goethe as the 6-year-old Frederick.
Jamie Hector, best known for playing Marlo Stanfield on the HBO series The Wire, and a leading player on NBC's Heroes, stars as Frederick Douglass in an original half-hour historical drama.
The film was completed in May 2008 and shot at several Connecticut locations, which stand in for the Maryland plantation on which Frederick Douglass was born in the early 1800s, the home in Baltimore where he worked as a house slave as a young boy and the train he boarded to make his escape north.
In case you are trying to match that location, here’s what to look for:
- The Mystic Whaler off the coast of Bridgeport
- Mystic Seaport
- The Essex Steam Train
- The Denison Homestead in Mystic
- Warrup's Farm in Redding
- The streets of South Norwalk, which are transformed into New York City circa 1830
- Roton Middle School in Norwalk
- The Palace Digital Studios in South Norwalk.
The film will be rebroadcast on Feb. 9 at 10:30 p.m.
