Overview
Join us for a reading of Pushcart Players’ new play LIFT EVERY VOICE: A Letter to the Editor by TyLie Shider and directed by Paul Whelihan, part of NJPAC Stage Exchange.
About LIFT EVERY VOICE: A Letter to the Editor
Lift Every Voice… is a multimedia play that explores the music, images, and spirit of mid-century America while celebrating the courage and resilience of everyday Americans during the Civil Rights Movement.
The story centers on Junebug, a 12-year-old African American boy in the 1960’s South, who learns of James Meredith’s attempt to enroll as the first African American at the University of Mississippi. When the editor of “The Oxford Eagle,” a local newspaper, expresses her negative opinions on integration, Junebug takes matters into his own hands and confronts these views, speaking out for equality and inclusion. Historical touchstones include the Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Little Rock Nine, the Greensboro Sit-ins, the Freedom Fighters, and the Civil Rights Movement. This play for young people resonates with the voice in each of us to fight against injustice.
About TyLie Shider
TyLie Shider is a 2020-21 Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow and an I Am Soul Playwright Resident at the National Black Theatre. His plays include Parable of the Backyard Roots (2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Finalist), Bastard, Platform States of Mind and Talk. His work has been developed by Liberation Theatre Company, Dixon Place, La MaMa, Frank Silvera Writers’ Workshop, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Harlem 9, Homebase Theatre Collective, 3:5 Creative[s], Yendor Arts, The Classical Theatre of Harlem, Luna Stage, Joust Theatre co., New York New Works Theater Festival, and The Theater Project. Awards include: Drama Desk from Delaware State University, and The Theater Project’s One-Act competition 2015 Best Play and Audience Favorite. Member: Dramatist Guild of America, 2018 Playwright in residence at the Liberation Theatre Company, 2019-20 Playwrights’ Center Jerome Fellow, and the 2020-21 The Civilians R&D Group. He holds a BA in journalism from Delaware State University and an MFA in playwriting from New York University.
About Pushcart Players
Founded in 1974, Pushcart Players brings substantive musical theater productions and innovative educational residencies to young people directly in their schools. Performances are curriculum oriented, focusing on literacy, history, values clarification, and music. Workshops and residencies focus on the craft of theater itself, promoting the benefits of learning through and about theater.
Pushcart Players has traveled over 2.5 million miles nationally and abroad to serve more than 8 million children and their families. From the little red schoolhouse to the nation’s White House, this dynamic company has received numerous state and private awards for excellence and innovation. A cast of professional Actors’ Equity Association actors and stage managers present with complete scenery, lighting and sound systems, making every performance adaptable to any location.
About NJPAC Stage Exchange
Cutting-edge play development meets insightful community dialogue at NJPAC Stage Exchange, a collaboration of two professional New Jersey theaters and a talented duo of Garden State playwrights. Following readings and Q&As at NJPAC related to each Stage Exchange work, a world premiere production will be staged by each dramatist’s partner theater.
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A fee of $3.50 has been added to all performance tickets to offset the cost of COVID-19 upgrades and maintenance for performances taking place between September 1, 2021, through July 1, 2022.
NJPAC values the safety of our audiences, artists, and staff. It regularly updates its COVID protocols and procedures based on CDC, federal, state, city, and other scientific data. NJPAC reserves the right to alter safety protocols at any time and at its sole discretion including but not limited to social distancing, vaccines/testing, masks, food service limitations, venue capacity, and entrance requirements as it deems appropriate.