Sat 2/3 @ 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm EST
In honor of Black History Month, Green Acre and Theater for the People will bring Hear Her Sing for Freedom to the stage in Eliot, Maine on Saturday, February 3rd.
In this production, playwright Najee Brown focuses on the legacy of Coretta Scott King, whose role in the Civil Rights Movement is often underrepresented. In fact, she presented concerts to fund the movement, and was responsible for the salaries of many of the men employed at the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)! In Hear Her Sing for Freedom, you will have the chance to experience what it might have been like to witness Coretta Scott King perform a Freedom Concert.
I had the privilege of adapting the life story of Coretta Scott King into a one woman musical called Hear Her Sing For Freedom. This play is modeled after the Freedom Concerts that Mrs. King held herself in the 50s and 60s to raise money for the Civil Rights Movement. During these freedom concerts Mrs. King would sing freedom songs, and Negro Spirituals, along with telling stories of the movement. Most people don’t know this, but she was an opera singer and went to the New England Conservatory in Boston during the time she met Dr. King. These freedom concerts, sometimes paid the salaries of the men who were in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Doing the research for this project has simply changed my life. Mrs. King is an unsung hero that should be recognized not just because of who she married, but how she contributed and sacrificed to make this country what it is today. Is it an honor to work on this project…
—Najee Brown
The play debuted to acclaim over the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Weekend in 2023 at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA. Natasha Ellis reprises her role as Coretta Scott King, narrating details of Coretta’s life between the musical numbers, which include spirituals, gospel hymns, and blues.
