In “Mexodus,” two actor-musicians use live-looping technology to tell the often-overlooked story of enslaved people who escaped to the south.
Brian Quijada, left, and Nygel D. Robinson in “Mexodus,” which is now at Baltimore Center Stage and is coming to Washington’s Mosaic Theater Company. The two-person show recalls the southbound underground railroad, a chapter in U.S. history that saw thousands of enslaved people fleeing to freedom in Mexico — a phenomenon that has historically received far less attention than the northbound underground railroad.
For Quijada and Robinson, the intensely collaborative musical format suits the historical narrative, resonating with themes of empathy and togetherness. And in another kind of solidarity, the world premiere is a co-production of two companies: Baltimore Center Stage, where it’s running through April 7, and Mosaic Theater Company in Washington, where it goes up May 16 to June 15.
The musical collaboration in “Mexodus” shows “this is what solidarity can actually do, and what it can look like, and make something that is worlds bigger than two people,” Robinson says. But the pandemic kept this shooting star close and smoldering. Collaborating remotely at first, Quijada and Robinson began writing and performing a kind of concept album inspired by the southbound underground railroad, releasing video online.