Magician, actor and author Rory Rennick of Columbus, Ohio, brings his one-man show “Henry Box Brown: The Life and Legacy Event.” Doors open at 6:30 p.m. It is recommended for children ages 12 and older due to the mature theme of slavery.

The 75-minute show is being brought to the community free of charge by sponsors Empowerment Financial Advisory Services, a Pittsburgh-based certified public accounting firm owned by Altoona native Shelly Hogans, and Empower Business Solutions, an IT consulting firm in Altoona.

Hogans is a 1987 Altoona Area High School graduate who attended Penn State Altoona and graduated in 1991 from University Park.

The show is one of many activities she and other descendants and relatives of the Black Family will attend during their reunion weekend, she said. The Black Family reunion is a long-held tradition that began decades ago as a church picnic attended by various families and congregations of Altoona’s Fifth Ward. The reunion takes place the fourth weekend of every July.

Courtesy photo Rory Rennick researched the story of Henry “Box” Brown and wrote a book about his travels.

“It’s important to come back together and celebrate where your roots started,” Hogans said. Among the activities the numerous families will enjoy during the reunion weekend is an outing to DelGrosso’s Amusement Park on July 28 the African American Heritage Festival on July 29.

“Each family wears T-shirts and takes over the picnic pavilions and sit in family clusters,” she said.

Having seen Rennick perform elsewhere, Hogans said she thought bringing the story of Henry Box Brown to Altoona would add to the weekend’s activities. Brown sealed himself in a wooden crate in Richmond, Virginia, and undertook a 357-mile journey to freedom in Philadelphia by traveling by wagon, train and boat.

“Rory is a gifted performer and this is an amazing 75-minute show with no intermission. It’s a fantastic true story that is part of history,” she said.

Rennick, has researched and written a stage play and book about Brown, and travels the Mid-Atlantic sharing the man’s quest for freedom. After his wife and three children were sold to a different plantation owner, a despondent Brown paid to have himself shipped via rail from Richmond to Philadelphia.

Brown, who later renamed himself Henry Box Brown, endured an arduous 27-hour journey, including many hours turned upside down on his head, Rennick said.

Finding magic

Rennick first became enamored with magic after obtaining a trick in a cereal box during his childhood and returned to performance magic after college. He appeared in comedy clubs and performed magic shows for schools, libraries and private events for about 20 years while working in Ohio schools as a teacher assistant. More recently, he assisted magician Stephen Knight when he performed on America’s Got Talent.

Magic, he said, “is a reminder that more things are possible than not. Magic becomes a metaphor for the impossible,” Rennick said, adding he especially enjoys performing his combination of magic and storytelling for children. “A child’s imagination isn’t clouded and magic is a catalyst for developing a child’s critical thinking skills.”

Rennick became “obsessed” with Brown’s story because Brown is the first documented Black magician. In addition to writing a stage play, “Delivery: The Henry Box Brown Show,” he also has written Brown’s autobiography, “The “Henry Box Brown: The Life and Legacy Event.” The book combines Rennick’s research and adds “what-if scenarios for entertainment,” he said.

“I became totally immersed in Henry’s story and even traveled to England to do research on his life there,” Rennick said, adding he also interviewed his U.S. descendants.

“It’s a wild story. He freed himself physically and economically during his life,” Rennick said of Brown. “His story is so inspirational and it’s a reminder that the impossible can happen. There are elements of humor and very impossible, seeming magic. It’s a dramatic retelling of his story and it will be great.”