Sometimes a single name, a single date, a single event, or a particular song conjures up myriad images and emotions, creating an immediate shift in your breath. Let’s try it. What comes to your heart and mind?
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Freedom rides.
Rosa Parks.
Amazing Grace.
Lunch-counter sit-ins.
Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.
For some of us, those names, events, and songs are part of a powerful personal experience. For some, they are part of a seemingly distant history. And perhaps for others, they are unfamiliar. But without a doubt, a couple of generations ago, those people, events, and songs (among other things) changed the course of America.
The WordPlayers’ next touring show – WALK, DON’T RIDE, by Peter Manos – explores all of them and more, in an attempt to celebrate and commemorate the American Civil Rights movement.
Those of us who have been privileged to be in the rehearsal room the past couple of weeks with the talented cast have been moved by the surging lyrics and harmonies of the freedom songs; we’ve been swept away by the soaring rhetoric of Dr. King’s words; we’ve been uplifted by the courage and strength of Mrs. Parks; and we’ve been reminded of some events in America’s history of which we are proud and some of which we are ashamed.
WALK, DON’T RIDE, an example of the best kind of “edu-tainment,” has already been booked for over 20 performances in 16 different venues, including middle schools, high schools, colleges, and churches. What an exciting Black History Month this February will be!!
There is an open dress rehearsal on Thursday, Jan. 19th, at 7.30 PM at the MCM, 1540 Robinson Road. Please join us!