Hit and Run History Wins 2nd Grant from Mass Humanities

Hit and Run History Wins 2nd Grant from Mass Humanities

$10,000 to Cape Cod Filmmakers exploring Shakespeare’s Shipwreck

Lightning does strike twice, and Cape Cod’s Gumshoe Historians couldn’t be happier to be the target. Fittingly, this story begins with a hurricane, or in this case, The Tempest, the final play of William Shakespeare. That is the latest subject the crew of Emmy-nominated Hit and Run History (HRH) has turned their sights on. Now with a $10,000 pre-production grant awarded on December 15 by the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, “Stephano: The True Story of Shakespeare’s Shipwreck” can be told.

The Globe Theater and the Bard. Jamestown and Pocahontas. The Mayflower and Squanto. One man connects them all — Stephen Hopkins. When the Pilgrims sailed from England in 1620, a late-coming passenger was the only aboard who already been to the New World. Hopkins’ life up to that point was already harrowing enough for any person.

In 1609, Hopkins had sailed with the new Virginia Governor to Jamestown when their ship, Sea Venture, wrecked on Bermuda. Later ashore, Hopkins begged for his life in chains after condemned to death for mutiny. A newly-constructed ship carried the castaways to Jamestown, but salvation was short-lived.  The handful of surviving colonists had resorted to cannibalism. Present at the marriage of Pocahontas, Hopkins returned with her and her husband to England. There, the story of the Sea Venture inspired Shakespeare, with Hopkins immortalized as the mutinous drunken butler Stephano.

A decade later, his harrowing experiences in North America were invaluable to the fledgling Plymouth Colony. Host to Samoset and Squanto, and emissary to Massasoit, Hopkins had seen how quickly a European settlement could fail without good relations with the local tribes.

“Not only does this new grant acknowledge Stephano is a story worth telling,” says HRH creator and host Andrew Giles Buckley, “but it reaffirms the scholarly and educational value of our approach to storytelling.” WGBH dubbed the series “snackable history.”

Last week’s Mass Humanities grant is actually the second awarded to HRH. In 2010, their very first Social Media Outreach Grant was voted unanimously to Buckley and crew for their ongoing series on the Columbia Expedition.

“Mass Humanities is very happy to fund another Hit and Run History project,” says Pleun Bouricius, Mass Humanities’ Director of Grants & Program. “What sets Stephano apart is Hit and Run History’s ability to take the viewer into the moment things are happening. This project will bring a fascinating and entertaining story to thousands of young Americans, and will also encourage them to think about the ways in which history shapes the world they live in.”

London, Bermuda, Jamestown, Plymouth. It sounds like an ambitious schedule, except that HRH’s other series follows the first American voyage ‘round the world – the Columbia Expedition. But they won’t be setting that odyssey aside.

Columbia is the work of a lifetime,” says Buckley. “But Stephano is a story of my family.” His mother is a Hopkins from East Orleans, and his middle name descends Stephen Hopkins’ son, Giles Hopkins. Buckley grew up hearing about his scrappy Mayflower ancestors. “Now I’ve been given the chance to learn more about them and share that story, and adventure, with the world.”

The preproduction grant will be help pay for research and scriptwriting, shooting of a high-quality trailer and creation and implementation of a fundraising plan. The goal is to assemble the crew, story and funding necessary to film a finished documentary.

A grassroots production of the Cape Cod Community Media Center, HRH has received numerous accolades and grants for bringing global historical adventures to underserved audiences. Less Ken Burns, and more Anthony Bourdain in style, HRH’s have been featured WGBH’s History site and broadcast on Rhode Island PBS.

Mass Humanities conducts and supports programs that use history, literature, philosophy, and the other humanities disciplines to enhance and improve civic life in Massachusetts. Established in 1974 as the state-based affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), we are an independent programming and grant-making organization that receives support from the NEH and the Massachusetts Cultural Council as well as private sources.

Hit and Run History