ECA Presents Nambi E. Kelley’s Jabari Dreams of Freedom (VIRTUAL SCREENING)
SAT March 13 | 2-3:15PM
FREE with Registration via the 'Buy Tickets' Button
Age Recommendation: 3rd grade and up, family audiences
ECA is proud to present a FREE virtual screening of Jabari Dreams of Freedom, a critically acclaimed new play for young audiences and their families. Organized in honor of Black Lives Matter Month of Action, and in partnership with Edmonds School District and Communities of Color Coalition’s Arts in Action event, Jabari Dreams of Freedom will be screened in full (47 min.) and followed by a live Q&A with Jabari’s creative team, playwright Nambi E. Kelley and director Daniel Carlton.
Ten-year-old Jabari loves to paint. And through his art, he escapes the turbulent world around him and the reality of a friend hurt by police violence. In his dreams, Jabari meets children and young people from the Civil Rights Era, including Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin and others, who teach him how to be fearless. He also meets his hero, Barack Obama, as a 7-year-old boy on the eve of the assassination of MLK, Jr...
Will Jabari be able to instill in 7-year-old Barack the lessons he's learned, and therefore ensure that Barack will have the necessary tools to become president? Will Jabari learn to take these lessons back into his own life and heal his community? Using rap, freedom songs, history, and humor, this play explores what it means to have courage in a world where Black children, Black boys, are not safe.
Critical acclaim from the Chicago Tribune: "Jabari, which imagines the young Obama in his bedroom dreaming with his mom, gives you an advanced sense of how pivotal the existence of that presidency might be for young people with outsize aspirations and enough caring adults around to tend to their safety and their dreams."
** Ticket holders will receive a link to the virtual screening and live Q&A via email, 24 hours prior to the event.
Following the live event, this program will be accessible on-demand until Monday, March 15 at 2PM.
Are you a teacher or homeschool parent? ECA is offering FREE educator access to Jabari Dreams of Freedom and a virtual workshop from March 13 until April 3. Please contact Katie Newbaum, Education & Outreach Coordinator, at katie@ec4arts.org to register.
ECA’s Education & Outreach programs are made possible with generous support by the Hazel Miller Foundation and the Edmonds Arts Commission. Special thanks to ECA’s partners Arts in Action, Edmonds School District, and Communities of Color Coalition (C3), for their support of "Jabari Dreams of Freedom."