Theater J’s final play in its 2012-2013 season, Jacqueline Lawton’s “The Hampton Years,” is a carefully researched, meticulously detailed historical play that outlines several large, intertwined narratives: the slow growth of racial integration in the American South, the various paths by which artistic talent develops and the emergence of modern art in America after World War II.

The play takes place at Virginia’s Hampton Institute, originally designed after the Civil War as a vocational school for African-American soldiers. The play traces its evolution into a liberal arts college where African-Americans could become painters and sculptors.

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