Arts & Culture

Youtheatre Honors MLK Jr. With World Premiere

89.1 WBOI | By Julia Meek

Published February 5, 2020 at 6:27 PM EST

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Ennis Brown, setting the stage as King reflecting on his childhood, the evening before he was assassinated.

Courtesy/Fort Wayne Youtheatre

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Gregory Stieber, director and co-author of MLK Jr., rehearsing for Ruby Bridges in 2016.

Courtesy/Fort Wayne Youtheatre

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Stieber, working with the cast of The Ryan White Story in 2015.

Courtesy/Fort Wayne Youtheatre

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Brown as MLK Jr. in The Mountaintop

Courtesy/Fort Wayne Youtheatre

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A scene from Young Harriet Tubbman, 2018

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Another fully engaged Youtheatre audience

Courtesy/Fort Wayne Youtheatre

Espeland believes that the chance to perform earnest, original work is essential to empowering young actors and building good citizens.

Fort Wayne Youtheatre is celebrating Black History Month with the world premiere of Building the Dream: MLK Jr this Friday evening, February 7th.

The play, directed by Gregory Stieber, is another original production in Youtheatre's Young Heroes of Conscience Series, co-authored by Stieber and the group's executive director, Todd Espeland.

Last week, WBOI's Julia Meek sat down with Espeland, and lead actor Ennis Brown to discuss the play's perspective and the impact it, as well as the other plays in the series have on our community.

Event Information:

Fort Wayne Youtheatre's Building the Dream: MLK Jr.
@ Parkview Physicians Group ArtsLab, Downtown Arts Campus
Friday, February 7th through Sunday, February 9th, 2020

School Show @ Embassy Theatre
Monday, February 10th

For complete show times and ticket information, visit the Fort Wayne Youtheatre website.