STAGE TUBE: Orlando Theatre Community Blocks Westboro Protesters with Angel Wings
When the infamous Westboro Baptist Church showed up to protest the funerals of the victims of this month's shooting at the gay bar Pulse in Orlando, the local theatre community rallied. Partnering with Angel Action Wings, Orlando Shakespeare Theatre and other volunteers wore linen wings to block Westboro's homophobic picketers from view while singing "Amazing Grace." Click below for a look at the counter-protest!
On June 12, 2016, 29-year-old Omar Mateen killed 49 people and injured 53 others inside the nightclub. Funerals for the victims began June 16 and continue throughout the city.
Angel Action Wings was founded back in the '90s to counter Westboro leader Fred Phelps's appearance at Matthew Shepard's funeral. The well-known play THE LARAMIE PROJECT by Moises Kaufman was written after Tectonic Theater Project travelled to Laramie, Wyoming, to interview locals about Shepard's (who was gay) horrific death in 1998.
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