The studio behind “Steal Away,” inspired by historian Andrew Ward’s account of “the Jubilee Singers who introduced the world to the music of Black America,” is seeking talent to fill several roles in the forthcoming film. Pay ranges from more than $12,000 to nearly $42,000 for the various roles.
Realm Studio’s call for actors explains that the movie portrays how “an HBCU warrior choir fights the KKK’s reign of terror against their schools with songs of faith and freedom, and after conquering the world must then conquer their own demons.”
The lead roles, and one supporting role, are open to Black and White talent ranging in age from early 20s to late 70s.
“Steal Away,” from writer/director Stephen Ashley Blake, begins filming in the summer in Atlanta, Georgia, according to the Backstage posting.
Several roles have already been filled for the 19th-century epic, if the IMDd.com listing is accurate. However, the casting call reveals that actors are still needed to portray major historical figures, including George White, a White missionary and “self-appointed choirmaster” (per Ward), and “the indomitable” Ella Sheppard.
Sheppard, a longtime singer, pianist, and assistant director for the Jubilee Singers, was “[a]dmired for her musical talent, her quiet, confident style of leadership, and her commitment to the singers’ evangelical mission,” according to a PBS feature.
Sheppard, whose character is said to have “an intensely dramatic arc,” is described as “[h]aunted by past sins and desperate for redemption.” Intent on rescuing “hundreds of schools from supremacist destruction,” Sheppard is also embroiled in an explosive “war-torn love” affair in the movie.
The Jubilee Singers were founded in 1871 at Fisk University, one of several historically black colleges and universities founded by Christian missionaries after the Civil War. The a cappella group is a fixture of Fisk University and is composed of current students.
In his book Dark Midnight When I Rise, Ward tells how the formerly enslaved students of the original group set out “on a grueling journey from Nashville to New York City, where they would introduce thousands of whites to Negro spirituals.” The Jubilee Singers, on a mission to raise funds for their school, reportedly toured in locations affiliated with the Underground Railroad. They also toured overseas, which appears to be a major focus of the “Steal Away” storyline.
While dramatizing the Christian students’ fight against the KKK, “Steal Away” also “follows the choir’s titanic rise from the darkness of slavery to the glittering ballrooms and throne rooms of England as they conquer the world… and must then conquer enslavement to fame,” according to the movie’s website.
Blake, who has been working on the movie for a few years, broke down the plot and some of its characters in a previous video, seen below and on Facebook.