View eblast: John Legend’s Commentary about the Off-Broadway Hit, TURN ME LOOSE, now playing in Washington, DC
Purchase Tickets to the Play & Champagne Reception on Friday, October 12, 2018
Author Archives: StatehoodDC
Christian Gregory reviews “Turn Me Loose”
The Black Eagle interviews U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown
Listen to Joe Madison’s interview with U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown on SiriusXM’s Urban View on August 28, 2018 about DC statehood and the TURN ME LOOSE play and reception at Arena Stage in honor of the late, great DICK GREGORY.
Purchase Your Tickets to “TURN ME LOOSE” & the Champagne Reception on Friday, October 12th.
Come Celebrate Dick Gregory With Us… at “TURN ME LOOSE” at Arena Stage on Friday, October 12, 2018
The Statehood No Other Way (NOW) Foundation,
in association with the Gregory Family,
cordially invites you to a celebration of the life of
~ DICK GREGORY ~
on the anniversary of his 86th birthday.
Purchase Your Tickets to “TURN ME LOOSE” & the Champagne Reception on Friday, October 12th.
“Scorchingly Funny and Brilliant. Takes Your Breath Away.”
—The New York Times
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DICK GREGORY!
Don’t miss this opportunity to celebrate the life of this Civil Rights leader with family and friends at a Champagne Reception in the Grand Foyer at Arena Stage immediately following this amazing play.
TURN ME LOOSE
Friday, October 12, 2018
We have purchased a block of tickets in the Orchestra Section
at Arena Stage for this performance. Seating is limited, so purchase
your tickets today. Following the show, we will also mark the occasion of
Dick Gregory’s 86th birthday with a special cake and Champagne Reception.
Tickets for the play and reception are $100.
Please join us at this historic event to celebrate the life of Dick Gregory
who was a strong advocate for DC statehood. Proceeds from this event
will benefit the Statehood No Other Way (NOW) Foundation.
Tickets to this event are not tax-deductible.
This intimate and no-holds-barred drama chronicles Dick Gregory’s rise as the first black comedian to expose audiences to racial comedy. His comedy spared no one – including politicians, celebrities and the white supremacists who were part of his regular audience.
In confronting bigotry head-on with biting humor and charm, Gregory turned his activism into an art form, risking his own safety at each performance.
TURN ME LOOSE, starring Edwin Lee Gibson, is an exuberant
and raw tribute to Gregory’s life as a civil rights activist, comic genius
and unapologetic provocateur.
Playwright – Gretchen Law | Director – John Gould Rubin
In association with John Legend and The Will and Jada Smith Family Foundation
PURCHASE TICKETS TO “TURN ME LOOSE” PLAY & RECEPTION
-
Where
The Kreeger Theater at Arena Stage1101 – 6th Street, SW, Washington, DC 20024 -
When
Friday, October 12, 2018
8:00 PM EDT -
Get in Touch
U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown
Questions? Contact us at StatehoodNOWFoundation@gmail.com or (202) 330-3519.
You may send a check or money order, made out to the Statehood NOW Foundation, to 4501 Western Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016, if you so choose. For more information, please call U.S. Senator Michael D. Brown at (202) 330-3519.
Statehood No Other Way (NOW) Foundation
The Statehood NOW Foundation is a nonprofit organization creating a nationwide campaign to get the word out about the disenfranchisement of the citizens of our nation’s capital. It’s the start of a new movement to finally fulfill the promise of democracy for the residents of Washington, DC by making DC the 51st state of the Union.
Support DC Statehood!
For more than 200 years, the people of the District of Columbia have been denied their basic civil rights. Today, the 681,170+ loyal citizens of the District, who have been part of America since America began, have no voting representation in either the United States House of Representatives or the U.S. Senate. In addition, they have only limited Home Rule, lacking final control of their local taxes and legal system. Even though they pay the highest per capita federal taxes in the nation and serve our country valiantly in the military at higher than the national average, Washingtonians are deprived of many of the rights Thomas Jefferson said “were endowed by our creator…” and that every other American enjoys.
We are the only democracy in the world that denies equal rights to the citizens who live in its capital city. It’s time that we resolve this political anachronism and make the people of our nation’s capital equal citizens of our great democracy through statehood. The people of the District of Columbia are loyal Americans who have a distinguished record of service to the nation. More than 200,000 DC residents have served our country during wartime. And 2,000 of these brave men and women have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of our freedom. The District is proud to claim 39 recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor – including Brigadier General Daniel Butterfield, who either wrote or re-wrote a popular bugle call for burials, called Taps.
The history of the District of Columbia is the history of America. Our DC National Guard was founded by Thomas Jefferson. On a mission for his DC Guard unit, a young lieutenant named Francis Scott Key was captured and held prisoner on a ship in Baltimore Harbor where he wrote our National Anthem.
Today, DC residents have no voice in the country that they helped build. They are excluded from our national dialog and worse yet, are denied the equality that is a prerequisite of our democracy. The only way to give the people of DC back their rights is through statehood. It’s that simple. In 1954, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously decided the landmark case, Brown vs. Board of Education, that separate but equal violated the constitutional principles of our great nation. In order to be equal in the United States, you need to reside in a state. Anything less is less.
