Towson, Morgan State theatres collaborate on heartfelt play
TOWSON – Thursday is opening night for the inaugural 20|02 play at Towson University in a special collaboration between the school and Morgan State University.
20|02 was created by sisters Chloe and Kaylah Harvey — a Towson alumna and Towson student, respectively — about their father David.
"My adviser said, 'It'll be a perfect opportunity. You get to come back, have a little taste of senior year,'" Chloe said about the project, an independent study project prior to graduation.
David Harvey died suddenly in 2002 of a heart attack when Chloe was 2 years old. Kaylah had not yet been born.
"Everybody else in our family grieved our father 20 years ago, and for us, this was our first time doing that," Chloe said. "People didn't talk about him for a reason. It's because they missed him so much."
The Harvey sisters began studying their father by watching home videos and interviewing family members.
"I did not understand what they were doing at first. I just thought it was homework," mother Tonya Harvey Clark joked. "The videos had been in the attic for, I guess, 20-something years because we just weren't ready. And, it took Chloe and Kaylah to heal everyone."
Tonya and David created the "African American Flag" in 1991, inspired while a performance of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing."
"Then, we looked at each other and we said, 'A flag!' We have this Black National Anthem and we don't have a flag. So, were like, 'Shh. Don't tell anybody,'" Tonya said.
The Harvey sisters said they not only learned more about their father, but appreciated their family's role in Black history more while working on the project.
"This is a really important flag to have and a lot of people should know about it," Kaylah said.
The flag still flies at Morgan State and Coppin State Universities, among other locations. The original flag was recently displayed at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum
"One of our cousins said, 'Uncle David was the flag. Everything that he was inside and out is what the flag was all about,'" Chloe said. "This is just solely to celebrate Black culture, Black history, Black excellence."
20|20 is the first student-written production at Towson University's theatre.
The show runs from March 2-4 at Towson University and March 9-10 at Morgan State University.
It features theater students from both schools.
Behind the Lens Watch Paul Gessler discuss the making of this story:
