True story: In 1857, Addison White, an escaped slave from Kentucky, sought refuge in Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and made friends with a local farmer named Udney Hyde. Eventually, federal Marshals found out where he was and surrounded Hyde’s home in the middle of the night. The townspeople turned out with pitchforks and torches to chase off the Marshals while White made his escape. Hyde knew that the Marshals would return, so he put on mad airs and spoke in riddles and rhymes to confound them. To complete the cover, he signed over his lands to a neighbor and went into a nearby swamp to live and whenever he came out, he acted like a crazy man. After the Civil War, White returned to Mechanicsburg with his wife and lived there until he died. “His wife lived until 1934 and all of his grandchildren still live in the community,” said Jeff Hooper, playwright for Mad River Theatre Works, who created a play, “Freedom Bound,” in 1985 as the result of a workshop in Mechanicsburg with the school there. Mad River began touring with “Freedom Bound” in 1988 with original music, and the group revives it every three or four years. “It’s proven to be entertaining as well as telling this incredible story about Ohio history,” Hooper said. Mad River Theater Works, based in West Liberty, Ohio, specializes in true stories such as this one, mostly from Ohio, but has also produced plays about Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks and the first African-American to fly in combat. Mad River has presented multiple performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, as well as appearing in major cities including Boston, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco and at international events such as the Vancouver Children’s Festival.