Enlarge Actor Mike Wiley portrayed all of the characters in "Blood Done Sign My Name."

Posted: February 18th, 2010 Tonya Jameson

A near capacity crowd filled ImaginOn’s McColl Family Theatre to see Mike Wiley’s adaptation of “Blood Done Sign My Name.”

The play examines how the murder of Henry “Dickie” Marrow in Oxford, a town northeast of Durham, in 1970 nearly ripped the town apart. (It is based on Tim Tyson’s memoir of the same name.) Marrow's death and the subsequent acquittal of the two white primary suspects led to angry marches by African Americans as well as the firebombing of white-owned tobacco warehouses. Tyson’s father Vernon was a Methodist preacher who tried to unite the community.

For nearly two hours, Wiley portrayed people such as Henry Marrow’s mother, Vernon Tyson, a young Tim Tyson, Eddie McCoy and Golden Frinks. With the exception of Ben Chavis, many of the people who fought for justice in Oxford are relatively unknown. (Read Tonya Jameson's Q&A with Wiley featured on QCityMetro.com.)

This incident isn’t cataloged in the annals of black history, likely because it happened more often than people realize, Tyson says.

A film by the same name opens Friday, Feb. 18, in theaters nationwide.

The movie was directed by Gastonia native Jeb Stuart, who co-wrote the screenplays for "Die Hard" and "The Fugitive."

In 2008, the movie was filmed in Cleveland County, Charlotte and Gastonia. The cast includes Rick Schroder (TV’s “24”), Nate Parker (“The Great Debaters”), Nick Searcy (“Cast Away”), Lela Rochon (“Any Given Sunday”), Michael Rooker (“Days of Thunder”) and in a cameo the late historian John Hope Franklin.

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