‘The Pedro Tovookan Parris Story’ coming to Medallion Opera House

GORHAM — As part of the Sept. 16–20 Mount Washington Valley Storytelling Festival, world-renowned storyteller and mime Antonio Rocha will bring a remarkable and little-known chapter of Maine history to life at the Medallion Opera House on Sept. 17 with his acclaimed free performance of "The Pedro Tovookan Parris Story."

The performance tells the extraordinary and tragic story of Pedro Tovookan Parris, an East African boy abducted into slavery in the 1840s. His journey carries him across the Atlantic to Brazil aboard a Maine-built ship and eventually to Maine, where his life takes an unexpected turn toward freedom and a new beginning in Paris Hill.