After being kidnapped from New York and sold into slavery, Solomon Northup uses his skills and carefully placed trust to survive and seek a way back to his family.
- Scenes 1–29
Solomon lives freely in Saratoga as a husband, father, worker, and musician.
- Scene 30
Solomon is drugged and abducted in New York, abruptly ending his free life and beginning his captivity.
- Scene 31
After Solomon is drugged and abducted in scene 30, he wakes in chains and discovers that he has been stolen from his free life.
- Just before
- Scene 55
In the crowded hold, Arthur recounts his kidnapping and joins Solomon’s plan to seize the ship and sail north, but they debate the risks and who else might join.
- Scene 56
Back in the galley, Solomon watches Robert work with a knife and considers him as a possible ally.
- Scene 57
Solomon, Arthur, and Robert agree on roles for a mutiny and choose the Sabbath morning, when they expect the crew to be less alert.
- Scene 58
This scene
