Casting Sides for the film: Revolutionary Hampton

This film explores the story of Hampton during the period following the journeys of real men and women as they navigated life and work on the front lines to fight for liberty. The Battle of Hampton, fought on October 26-27, 1775, was Virginia’s first engagement in the Revolution and was one of the few conflicts occurring outside New England during that time.

The film will follow the stories of individual Patriots, Loyalists, and civilians. It will accompany “The Revolutionary Hampton: Journeys of Liberty” exhibit at the Hampton History Museum.

We are casting the following non-union roles:

Role: Modern Day On-Camera Host/Narrator, early 20’s

(grounded, setting the scene)
In September 1775, a hurricane swept through the lower Chesapeake Bay and the British tender Liberty ran aground near Hampton.

(shift: introduce human stakes)
Local landowner Thomas Finn helped Captain Squire and his harbor pilot, Joseph Harris avoid capture by Patriot forces.

(raise stakes)
Hampton had become a flashpoint in Virginia’s growing rebellion.
That summer, hundreds of enslaved men and women fled to British ships anchored nearby seeking freedom.

(beat)
Their escape intensified tensions between Patriot and Loyalist— pushing the region toward open conflict.

(clarify sides – controlled, clear)
The American colonies were divided.
On one side: British Loyalists who governed the colonies through taxes and restrictions on trade.

On the other side: Patriots who believed those policies violated their rights and demanded the power to govern themselves.

(deepen – weight, gravity)
Virginia was the wealthiest colony in British America.

(beat)
And that wealth depended heavily on enslaved labor.

(final turn – reflective, sobering)
Slavery shaped the colony’s economy, its politics, and the choices people would make as war drew closer.

Role: William Jennings, a white man in his early 20’s, during the Battle of Hampton in 1775

Scene: Monologue

WILLIAM JENNINGS

(Earnest. Reflective. A man who has seen hardship but carries pride in his service. 5+ years after the Battle)

“I stood with the Patriots from the very beginning. After the Battle of Hampton, I took my service to the water, joining the Virginia Navy. Later, I was assigned to pilot the French ship Northumberland, a voyage that carried me all the way to Martinique in the Caribbean! 

(Beat. Quieter.) 

But when I returned, I was captured by the Royal Navy and spent months as a prisoner of war,
which isn’t a time I like talking about. 

(Firmer. Resolved.)

But this DID NOT break my resolve. When I was finally released and made my way home to Hampton, I returned, and continued serving until the end of the war. I’ve always been faithful to our cause for independence. And our new nation, we were fighting to bring into being.”

Role: Wilson-Miles Cary, white man in his 40’s 

Scene: Monologue

WILSON-MILES CARY

(Controlled. Intelligent. A man accustomed to authority. Begins measured — gradually reveals self-awareness without remorse.)

“Before the Battle of Hampton, I served the British Empire. As the Naval Officer for the Lower James and keeper of the customs house, I collected duties and was an enforcer of rules that bound us in Virginia to London. 

(Beat.)

It was good money. It made me powerful. 

(Lowers slightly — reflective.)

But you know, it made me complicit.

So when Lord Dunmore ordered me to abandon Hampton and reopen the customs house at Norfolk, I refused. 

(Sharpening.)

I was a servant of the colony, not the Crown! I had watched those trade laws choke my Hampton community. 

(Beat.)

I also condemned Dunmore for stealing our escaped property. Dozens of slaves escaped from me. 

(Steady. Direct. No apology.)

Our Revolution promised liberty, but it did not offer it equally. In Virginia, freedom is a possession of men like myself. And I firmly defend it with conviction 

(Beat.)

and I withhold it from others… without apology.”

Role: William Roscoe Wilson Curle, white man in his 40’s 

Scene: Monologue

WILLIAM ROSCOE WILSON CURLE

(Practical. Intelligent. Civic-minded. A steady leader, not theatrical — conviction built from responsibility.)

“When trouble came to Hampton, I wore more than one hat. And none of them lightly. I chaired our Committee of Safety – penning negotiations with the British as tempers rose. And when Hampton needed a voice beyond our streets, I took our case to our Patriot Representatives in Williamsburg.

(Beat.)

We were not looking for war! But we were done waiting for decisions made by the Crown. Committees like ours became the center of resistance. We organized supplies, enforced boycotts, and kept order while challenging royal authority.

(Leans in slightly.)

Our militia were not the minutemen. We weren’t professionals. We were neighbors under arms. 

THAT’S how this revolution worked. Not through a single battle, but through men like myself doing many jobs at once: arguing, organizing, standing guard. 

(Beat. Quiet pride.)
Hampton did not wait to be led. We led ourselves.”

Role: Sara M’Caa, white woman in her 30’s

Scene: Monologue

SARA M’CAA

(Grounded. Observant. Intelligent. A businesswoman who has seen everything and misses nothing. Strength without spectacle.)

“I grew up in my family’s tavern on Hampton’s waterfront: where trade arrived, customs were counted, and news traveled faster than ships.

Before the Revolution, my mother and I ran the finest tavern in town!
(Small smile.)
When she retired, she passed ownership to me. We served meals, poured drinks, and listened.
(Beat.)

The back rooms were filled with Patriot meetings, while out front, British officers and travelers spoke just as freely. We heard it all: arguments about liberty, loyalty, profit, and power.

By the time the Battle of Hampton came, the world I had known was gone. But my tavern endured. I didn’t fire a shot, but I fed and housed our soldiers and kept the town moving.

(Beat. Firm. Personal.)
The Revolution wasn’t only fought on battlefields. It unfolded in my Tavern, my home – where people eat, drink, argue, and listen. 

(Slight lift.)
That’s how history is made!”

Role: Joseph Harris, black man in his 30’s

Scene: Monologue

JOSEPH HARRIS

(Intelligent. Controlled. Carries quiet defiance. A man who understands risk and lives with it.)

“I was a sailor and harbor pilot in Hampton, and I knew these waters better than anyone who claimed to OWN them.
(Beat.)

Before proclamations, before promises, I chose my side. In the summer of 1775, I carried information to the British, quietly and carefully, because I understood something early: power moves by water, and knowledge moves faster. 

When the tender Liberty wrecked, I risked my life with Captain Squire. When the Hawke was taken at the Battle of Hampton, I did it again for Lieutenant Wright when he was wounded.
(Sharpening.)

That work made me dangerous. When the Patriots discovered what I was doing, I had no choice but to flee. Aboard the British fleet, my skills kept ships from running aground and kept officers and sailors alive. They called me ‘a very useful person.’ 

(Beat. Firm.)
And I told them I was free.

But understand this: long before liberty was declared, people like me were already navigating its limits. I did not wait to be freed. I acted. 

(Quiet. Final.)
I never lived to see how the war ended. I died in 1776, sick, at sea.”

Role: Pamela Glasgow, black woman in her 20’s

Scene: Epilogue Monologue

PAMELA GLASGOW

(Strong. Grounded. Speaks with lived experience — no sentimentality, just truth.)

“In 1775, I was enslaved in Hampton, living and working near the water where the fighting broke out. I belonged to James Barron. The battle happened almost at my doorstep. But freedom did not.

(Beat.)

My husband Jonathan, a carpenter, belonged to William Roscoe Wilson Curle. We had a daughter, Peggy. She was just a baby so leaving wasn’t simple. You don’t run fast with an infant in your arms. So we waited.

Years later, when another British fleet came, we took our chance. We escaped from Hampton, from Barron’s house, from the life I’d been forced to live. Jonathan escaped too. When we arrived in New York, we joined thousands of other families who had wagered everything on the promise of freedom in the colonies. But in 1783, we boarded a ship called L’Abondance and sailed north all the way to Nova Scotia. Cold land. Hard work. But our own lives.

(Beat. Broader.)

The Revolution didn’t end slavery. But it cracked it open. And through that opening, my family escaped Hampton, across the water, and into a future we claimed for ourselves.”