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Based on Andrew Ward’s post-Civil-War epic “Dark Midnight When I Rise,” Steal Away is the true story of the legendary Fisk Jubilee Singers, a sensational choir of young former slaves fighting the KKK’s reign of terror against their schools not with bullets or bombs but electrifying songs of faith and freedom. Steal Away follows the choir’s titanic rise from the darkness of slavery to the glittering ballrooms and throne rooms of England as they conquer the world… and must then conquer enslavement to fame. A breathtaking saga, Steal Away will feature a diverse international cast; cameos from Queen Victoria, the Emperor of Germany and President Ulysses S. Grant; a spectacular soundtrack, and a timeless universal message of faith, hope, redemption and race reconciliation that will leave audiences cheering from Boston to Beijing.
Queen Victoria was so moved by the Jubilees that she commissioned this portrait of them in 1874:
“Ella is a brilliant protagonist: complex and layered, sympathetic yet flawed. This is an amazing role any young actress would love to play.”
~Scriptapalooza
Ella Sheppard
Steal Away’s towering heroine is the indomitable Ella Sheppard. Haunted by past sins and desperate for redemption, Ella takes no prisoners and suffers no fools in her blazing crusade to rescue hundreds of schools from supremacist destruction. Meanwhile, Ella and Wallace are star-crossed lovers from violently far-flung worlds. The supremacist murder of Wallace’s family has made him a raging militant, while Ella is staking her life on a colorblind future. Their war-torn love is a powder keg set to explode.
Director Stephen Ashley Blake
An award-winning forty-year industry veteran, Blake cut his teeth as a young segment director for ABC Television and as a Director of Photography on independent genre films. Today, his credits span over 200 productions, including motion pictures and television shows for Universal, Paramount, Warner Brothers, Sony, HBO, Samuel Goldwyn Films, ABC Television, Fox Television and USA Network. His music video productions as Producer, Director, and/or Cinematographer include iconic works for Chris Rock, Wu-Tang, Tupac, Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J (“Mama Said Knock You Out”), Bono, Kirk Franklin, Public Enemy, Digital Underground, Bell Biv Devoe, and Neil Young at Geffen, Motown, Interscope, Virgin, Capitol, Columbia, MCA, RCA, Atlantic, Elektra, Epic, Island, Def Jam and Arista.
