EXPERIENCING THE DREAM MLK THE MUSICAL Will Present Live Audience Recording in Lynwood

Experiencing the Dream MLK THE MUSICAL – written by Kesha L. Ealy and co-written and composed by Marcus S. Mason - will have a live audience recording with 27 musicians of the 26-song score on Friday, May 15 at 7PM at the Greater Emmanuel Temple, 3740 E imperial Highway, Lynwood 90262. 

Experiencing the Dream MLK THE MUSICAL tells a very human side of the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King beginning at their courtship, and the people that were part of their lives and times: Mahalia Jackson, Ralph Abernathy, Juanita Abernathy,  John Lewis, Bayard Rustin, Dorothy Cotton, Maude Ballou,  J. Edgar Hoover and Clyde Tolson – as well as at Boston University Martin's fraternity brothers and Coretta's sorority sisters, Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) office workers, passengers and the driver “sharing” the bus with Rosa Parks, and FBI Agents.

Dr. King is remembered today, as how John Lewis recalled about the March on Washington, “Dr. King had the power, the ability, and the capacity to transform those steps on the Lincoln Memorial into a monumental area that will forever be recognized. By speaking the way he did, he educated, he inspired, he informed not just the people there, but people throughout America and unborn generations.”

But Kesha L. Ealy and Marcus S. Mason are looking to give the audience another experience of Dr. King's story,   Playwright Ealy said, “When I look at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and Coretta Scott King, I don't just see them as icons—I see two people who had to wrestle with fear, pressure, and the weight of purpose, which reminds me that calling comes with a cost, and that even the strongest among us have to choose courage over comfort.”

She continued, “I also feel deeply compelled to restore the true power of love. Not a soft or passive love, but the kind of love that stands in the face of hatred and still chooses righteousness. Through this story, people see that love was not just a feeling; it was a force that carried them through unimaginable challenges.”

“And personally, this calls me to something greater. It reminds me that the dream was never just Dr. King's—it belongs to all of us. This work is about calling people back to purpose, including myself. It challenges me to ask, ‘What am I doing with what I've been given?'”

Composer / Co-Writer Mason recalls his decade long journey to bring Experiencing the Dream to the stage.  He first met his original writing and producing partner LeRoy Parker playing in a band; Parker asked him to audition for the role of Ralph Abernathy in a play he was producing about Dr. King.  Once Mason began to study the script, he felt that the subject matter called out to be a musical.

“I began to write songs and before I knew it I had written a dozen songs.  We worked on it for six years, and then suddenly LeRoy Parker died from pancreatic cancer.  I was then compelled to see through the project – to bring Dr. King's life to the stage.  Kesha has been an integral part of bringing that mission to life.”

Mason continued, “I want the audience to have an experience with the human side of Dr. King.  It is hard to remember that he was a young man in his twenties when his story begins.  The songs in the show are intentional to delivering that experience to the audience. 

Ealy said, “While there's still respect for Dr. King,  I've noticed it can feel distant—almost symbolic instead of personal. To me, his story has been reduced to a few familiar moments, instead of the full reality of what he carried.  When I look at people today, I see them navigating very real, modern struggles. If the story doesn't connect to those realities, it can start to feel like history instead of something that speaks to their everyday lives. I also sense that people today are looking for authenticity—they want to see the humanity, not just the heroism, especially demonstrated in the partnership and strength of Coretta Scott King.”

Ealy concluded, “That is why telling this story matters so much right now. I don't believe this generation has lost its passion for purpose or justice—I believe they're searching for something real. And I feel called to present this story in a way that lets them feel it—the fear behind the courage, the love under pressure, the weight of what was at stake. Through music and storytelling, I want them to see that this isn't just what happened back then—it's something unfinished that still belongs to them. If they can see themselves in it, then it becomes more than a story … it becomes a calling ... it becomes a mandate.”