In 1970 Henry “Dickie” Marrow was murdered in Oxford, N.C. Marrow was black and the men accused of his murder were white. No one was ever convicted of the crime.

It was an incident that would shake the North Carolina town and become the subject of a book and eventually a one-man play of the same name, “Blood Done Sign My Name.”

“I reflect on the aftermath of the murder but I also revisit in the story what happened during that time period,” says Mike Wiley, actor and author of the one-man play, opening one night in Elizabeth City at the Maguire Theatre Saturday, 8 p.m.

The story of Marrow’s murder has been well documented.

A group of white men had seen Marrow gesture toward a white woman. They chased him down and murdered him.

A legal defense fund was established for the accused and the Ku Klux Klan stepped up its activity in the area. The men were not convicted and the town of Oxford went into a tailspin.

On the day of Marrow’s funeral, people marched from his gravesite to a downtown Confederate monument where people spoke of the murder.

The black community rioted over the acquittal. Tobacco warehouses and businesses were burned in protest. The estimated damage of the riots was $1 million.

Tim Tyson was 10 years old in 1970. He would go onto to be professor at Duke Divinity School and author “Blood Done Sign My Name.” Wiley met Tyson at a performance he was giving and the two became “fast friends.”

Wiley read Tyson’s book and became immersed in the subject. He began to research the murder of Henry Marrow and the subsequent riots in Oxford.

“I went to Oxford and spoke with the people there,” says Wiley.

And those people would become the characters he portrays in his one-man play.

The play examines the aftermath of the murder. Playing Tyson, Wiley interviews the people who were a part of or witness to the riots.

“I embody the characters of the events,” says Wiley. “They tell of the days prior to and after the murder.”

By switching his voice and his body movements, Wiley says he is able to move from one character to the next, portraying a variety of people from that period.

The performance ultimately becomes a dialogue about race that brings both black and white audiences into the fold, sparking meaningful conversations.

“It’s a hopeful play for race and reconciliation,” he says.

And as much as the play presents a dialogue, so do the minutes afterward, when the audience has an opportunity to engage Wiley.

“The dialogue that takes place afterwards is strong and poignant,” says Wiley. “Everyone wants to stay long after the lights have turned off.”

Not long ago Wiley was performing in Concord, N.C. An elderly white woman who had recently retired after 40 years of working for her local school district approached him.

She told Wiley that watching the play was the first time she had been able to view race from a different point of view, other than that of a white woman.

And then there was a performance of the play in Oxford. Wiley was nervous about performing the story there, where it had all taken place so many years ago.

“But we did it in the town hall,” he recalls. “There is a theater in the town hall. I performed it in the theater to a well racially mixed audience and received a standing ovation.”

And in case there is a savage beast to be soothed during this performance, there is music, gospel music performed by Mary Williams. Wiley says that when he read the book it had a “bluesy, gospel feel” to it, so he wrote music in to the production.

The play has been performed consistently since November 2008. Wiley has been well received over the years and he looks forward to more performances here in Elizabeth City and beyond.

For ticket information call Arts of the Albemarle at 252-338-6455.