When Richard Josey was 10 years old, Rex Ellis, a deacon at Josey’s church, encouraged him to get involved with the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation as a child actor-interpreter.
Fifteen years later, Josey and Ellis both are actor-interpreters and will perform together at Chautauqua. At 2 p.m. today in the Hall of Philosophy, Josey will take the form of Peter, an enslaved man during the Civil War. In this performance, “Promises of Freedom,” Josey has the star role. But 10 other members of Colonial Williamsburg also will give their reflections of slavery as interpreters of other enslaved people.