John Legend to Co-Produce Play About Dick Gregory- TURN ME LOOSE

John Legend has signed on to produce a new Off Broadway play about Dick Gregory, the American civil rights activist, social critic, writer, entrepreneur, and comedian.The play is called TURN ME LOOSE, and will even feature an original song by John Legend.

John Legend and Mike Jackson present a new comedic drama about the extraordinary and explosive life of Dick Gregory - starring SCANDAL's Joe Morton - that shines a light on the first Black comedian to expose white audiences to racial comedy. Gregory confronted bigotry with shockingly disarming humor, deeply influenced other comics like Chris Rock and Richard Pryor, is a favorite of President Obama, marched with Martin Luther King, Jr., has also been a prolific writer, muckraker, provocateur, candidate for mayor of Chicago and for president of the United States. Experience the comic genius of Dick Gregory and the poetic final words of his mentor, slain civil rights activist, Medgar Evers: TURN ME LOOSE.

The play is written by Gretchen Law and will be directed by John Gould Rubin. The play has had three workshops and readings, at Atlantic Theater Company, New York Stage and Film and New York Theater Workshop. It will run at the Westside Theatre at 407 West 43rd Street in New York City.

The show is set to start previews on May 3rd, 2016, and is set to open on May 19th, 2016. Tickets can be purchased from the show's website.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos