Gretna Theatre Celebrates Black History Month With An Educational Show On Diversity

Gretna Theatre will be putting on a special performance of Tom Quinn's No Easy Road To Freedom: A Lesson In American Diversity at the Lebanon County Historical Society on February 26. The one-hour educational show tackles the subject of American diversity throughout history using poetry, drama, and song. Some of the events that are covered in the play include women's rights, the Holocaust, the civil rights movement, and the election of the country's first African American president. Lancaster Native Johnathan S. Perkins will join the conversation on Tuesday to moderate a post-show discussion. Johnathan is a young speaker and higher education attorney who focuses on diversity and inclusion.

Playwright, Tom Quinn, is the Director of Education at Philadelphia's Walnut Street Theatre. A former high school history teacher, Quinn has written plays that cover topics such as bullying, gun violence, and civil rights and his plays have been performed all over the country, including at the National Constitution Center.

No Easy Road to Freedom is apart of Gretna Theatre's growing educational outreach program. Through their mission to enrich and serve the community, Gretna Theatre brings curriculum and social based shows to schools, community centers, and special events across South Central Pennsylvania. These low-cost programs help teachers and activities directors link the arts to their curriculum/programming, making theatre available, accessible and engaging. Most recently, No Easy Road to Freedom was performed for students at Elizabethtown Area Middle School. Faculty members responded by saying:

"One of our goals this year was trying to get our students to understand empathy and to be more open to others. The content of the show fit perfectly."

The Lebanon County Historical Society is located at 924 Cumberland Street in Lebanon. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door. Advance tickets for the performance can be purchased by calling the Gretna Theatre box office at (717) 964-3627 or by visiting their website.