The one-woman play “Shame the Devil: An Audience with Fanny Kemble” will be presented by Lori Adams of the Illinois State University Theatre Department Friday evening, January 28, at Illinois College.

Fanny Kemble, who was married to an American slave owner, joined the abolitionist movement and wrote the first eyewitness account by a white woman condemning slavery. The 7:30 p.m. presentation, part of the Illinois College convocation series, will be staged in Sibert Theatre and is free and open to the public.

Lori Adams captures the many faces of Mrs. Kemble, a19th-century British actress, author, abolitionist, wife and mother, but also embodies 10 other characters as she follows Fanny in her journey from England to America. Her husband's position as master of his Georgian plantation comes as quite a surprise when she is forced to witness the cruelty and degradation he allows. When she confronts him, she discovers a new side of him, a side that refuses to be challenged, even by his beloved wife. Fanny finds herself torn but ultimately decides she must obey "a higher authority."

In her day, Fanny's personal and professional lives were followed by a gossip-hungry public. Sometimes lauded, sometimes scorned, Fanny persevered as an actress and individual finding her way to truth and justice. Although conditioned by the prejudices of her time, Fanny was in some ways a precursor of Martin Luther King Jr. in her ability to imagine and strive for a world where blacks and whites would be equal. Fanny was an educated, upperclass English woman, but cared for sick slaves on her husband's plantation.

Illinois College’s Sibert Theatre is located in the McGaw Fine Arts Center, 300 Lockwood Place.