Vinegar Hill history takes center stage

"Vinegar Hill," written by local actor-director-writer Teresa Dowell-Vest and directed by Ishmail Conway, runs through May 20 at the Live Arts theater, located on East Market Street downtown -- only a few blocks from the area the play remembers.

Dowell-Vest, a general faculty member at the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is project director for the African American Heritage Trails of Virginia. Conway is a lecturer in the drama department and associate director of the University's Upward Bound program.

Vinegar Hill was a once-bustling community in the center of Charlottesville, first settled by Irish immigrants and later by African Americans. In the "urban renewal" era of the 1960s and '70s, the impoverished neighborhood -- including minority-owned businesses and some homes that had no electricity or running water -- was demolished after a city-wide referendum. Its residents were offered living quarters in the Westhaven housing project, the city's first venture into low-income housing.

The play, fueled by hundreds of hours of research and oral history-taking by Dowell-Vest and Charlottesville High School students, presents Vinegar Hill's story through a dramatic interpretation of those histories.

"Vinegar Hill" officially opens May 5, with additional shows May 6-7, 10-14 and 17-20. Ticket prices are $14 on Fridays and Saturdays and $11 for all other shows; the two Wednesday performances are "Pay What You Can" nights. The May 12 staging will be followed by an audience discussion. The Thursday night shows are "Early Bird" nights, with curtain time moved up to 7:30 p.m. The Sunday shows are 2 p.m. matinees; all others begin at 8 p.m.

For information, call Live Arts at 977-4177.