The Firehouse Theatre, in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of History and Culture and the Richmond Planet Foundation, has commissioned playwright Kristen Adele Calhoun to dramatize the life and times of John Mitchell Jr., the “fighting editor” of The Richmond Planet Newspaper. The John Mitchell Jr. Project serves as a pilot for ongoing partnership between Firehouse Theatre and the Virginia Museum of History and Culture to dramatize untold stories from Virginia's history. Project strategy and marketing will be provided by BROWNBAYLOR™. 

John Mitchell Jr. (1863–1929) was a prominent newspaper editor, politician, banker, and civil rights activist. Born enslaved near Richmond, Mitchell became the editor of the Richmond Planet in 1884 at the age of 21. Mitchell used the Planet to promote civil rights, racial justice, and racial pride. As an editor and an activist, he became a key figure in the antilynching movement and played an instrumental role in organizing the Richmond streetcar boycott of 1904. Mitchell’s bold protest against racial injustice, which at times included calls to take up arms in self-defense, earned him his reputation as “the Fighting Editor.” He “fought for” the Planet until his death in 1929. On his tombstone it reads, “A man who would walk into the jaws of death to serve his race”.

Playwright Kristen Adele Calhoun is a writer, actor, producer and curator.  Her writing commissions include the Lucille Lortel Theatre, the NAACP, St. Louis Black Repertory Company, 651 ARTS, Penumbra Theatre, the Black American West Museum and Firehouse Theatre.  Her plays include winner of a 2024 Edgerton New Play Award: Black Cypress Bayou, WILDCAT, blood work, out the mud, and Canfield Drive. Her film and television writing credits include: HBO’s adaptation of Toni Morrison’s novel SULA helmed by showrunner Shannon M. Houston and Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures BLKNWS: TERMS & CONDITIONS directed by Kahlil Joseph, produced by A24 (premiering at Sundance Film Festival 2025).She is the co-curator of BLKSPACE, a two-week, rest-centered residency for Black artists and a recent I AM SOUL Playwriting Resident at Dr. Barbara Ann Teer’s National Black Theatre. Kristen’s television and film acting credits include House of Cards, Orange is the New Black, Elementary, Blue Bloods, and The Good Wife. A native of Dallas, Texas, she is a graduate of the University of North Texas (Bachelor of Fine Arts) and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (Master of Fine Arts). She splits her time between Ghana, Mexico, and Massachusetts where she is the 2024 - 2025 Sterling A. Brown Distinguished Visiting Professor of Africana Studies at Williams College.

Firehouse and its partners will host Ms. Calhoun in Richmond for multiple research and script development residencies throughout 2025 and the early months of 2026, with the aim of having a first draft ready for presentation ahead of semiquincentennial celebrations. Throughout the life of the project, Firehouse and its partners will create several community education and engagement opportunities. Firehouse anticipates the world premiere production will be part of their 2026-27 season.