Photos: Harlem Stage’s FREEDOM RIDERS Concludes Sold-Out NYC Engagement

Harlem Stage celebrated the triumphant conclusion of its 2025 Fall Season centerpiece, Freedom Riders: A Journey With No End in Sight, which closed its sold-out 16-show Harlem engagement on October 18. Check out photos of the production.

The production marked the finale of a landmark national tour that began in Montgomery, Alabama, and continued through Atlanta and Greensboro before returning home to Harlem.

Conceptualized and directed by Dr. Indira Etwaroo, Freedom Riders combined first-person monologues with a live original score to confront the enduring realities of racial injustice, from police brutality to systemic violence against Black and trans lives. More than 3,500 people attended the tour, which drew critical acclaim and national coverage, including in The New York Times.

The cast featured Lisa Arrindell, Russell Hornsby, Billy Eugene Jones, Angelica Ross, and Stephen Tyrone Williams, with special guest Harry Lennix appearing in select tour cities. The production’s live music, composed and performed by Arden Altino, Daniel Bernard Roumain, and Divinity Roxx, culminated in Roxx’s stirring original finale “We Are,” which moved audiences to collective reflection and unity.

Freedom Riders retraced the historical route of the Great Migration, transforming each city into a living monument of resistance and remembrance. The Harlem engagement, part of the organization’s Buy One, Give One Student Access Initiative, included six free student matinees attended by youth from across the city.

Harlem Stage's FREEDOM RIDERS