Collaboraction Will Host Free Reading of LAWNDALE KING at the Chicago History Museum

Collaboraction Theatre will present a free staged reading of Lawndale King, Willie Round’s powerful new play about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s time living in Chicago’s North Lawndale community, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Monday, January 19, at 1 p.m. at the Chicago History Museum, 1601 N. Clark St., Chicago. Legendary Chicago director and filmmaker Pemon Rami will direct the reading and join Round for a post-show discussion.

Lawndale King revives the chapter in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s life in 1966 when he moved his family to live in an apartment in North Lawndale on Chicago’s West Side. Gripping scenes and vivid community voices tell the intertwined stories of activists, families, slumlords, gangs, pastors and neighborhood youth, revealing the tension, hope, and courage that defined one of King’s most dangerous missions – joining the Chicago Freedom Movement to fight discriminatory housing practices. Intimate and sweeping, Lawndale King showcases Chicago’s West Side as a battleground for justice, capturing the humanity, humor, fear, and resilience of a community standing at the crossroads of change.  

Martin Luther King Jr. speaks in 1964 at the Illinois Rally for Civil Rights at Soldier Field in Chicago, held to celebrate the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

“Collaboraction looks forward to returning to the Chicago History Museum to bring to life another critical moment in Chicago history,” said Anthony Moseley, Artistic Director and co-director of Collaboraction’s Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till. “The Museum is the ideal setting for the first public reading of Willie’s first full-length work, a project we hope to further develop and premiere in our new House of Belonging in Humboldt Park.”

Lawndale King is one of several events at the Chicago History Museum honoring the national holiday, Martin Luther King Day, Monday, January 19. The Museum will be open from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

The MLK Day reading of Lawndale King will feature Chicago actors Edwin Edvanzd (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.), Briana Buckley (Coretta Scott King), Victor Holstein (Reporter/Mr. Sanction/ Charlie Swibel/Board Rep), Omari Ferrell (Bobby Gore/Al Raby), Tory Jacqui Malon (Benny Lee), Kaleb Jackson (Older Benny), Angelena Browne (Sadie Lee), Blake Hamilton Currie (Bernard/ Pepilow), Amir Abdullah (Andrew Young), Larnell James Shadd (James Bevel) and Anthony Moseley (Mayor Richard J. Daley).

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