Panel: “A Community of Survival: Turning Tragedy to Advocacy and Hope” [Philadelphia, PA]

TIMELY SPECIAL TOPIC ON COMMUNITY SURVIVAL FOLLOWS PERFORMANCE OF

brownsville song: b-side for tray

ON TUESDAY, MAY 12 AT PHILADELPHIA THEATRE COMPANY FOLLOWING THE 6:30 PM SHOW

          Philadelphia Theatre Company hosts the special topics panel “A Community of Survival: Turning Tragedy to Advocacy and Hope” on Tuesday, May 12, in connection with PTC's production of brownsville song: b-side for tray by Kimber Lee, running now through May 31.  The panel, moderated by ACLU Executive Director Reggie Shuford, features Shira Goodman, Executive Director of CeaseFirePA; Dorothy Johnson-Speight, Founder and Executive Director of Mothers In Charge, Inc.; and Keith Bailey, Director of Interpersonal Violence Prevention Programs for Physicians for Social Responsibility.  The discussion follows the 6:30 PM performance of the play.

          brownsville song (b-side for tray) tells a moving and universal story of love and redemption. When a young man’s life is tragically cut short, each member of his family must find a personal path to forgiveness. As his grandmother, sister, and estranged mother struggle to deal with this cataclysmic event, the complexity of human emotion and capacity for hope is revealed. Tapping a deep reservoir of feeling, playwright Kimber Lee demands that attention be paid to several lives that suddenly matter more than we could have imagined.

          Reggie Shuford joined the ACLU of Pennsylvania as executive director in September 2011. Prior to joining the ACLU-PA, he served as the director of law and policy at the Equal Justice Society (EJS), a national strategy group based in San Francisco, heightening consciousness on race in the law and popular discourse. From 1995-2010, Reggie served as senior staff counsel in the national ACLU's Racial Justice Program. During his tenure, he helped to pioneer legal challenges to racial profiling practices nationwide. He was the ACLU's chief litigator in challenges to racial profiling, leading national litigation efforts and consulting with ACLU state affiliates and others in cases of "driving while black or brown," airport profiling, and profiling related to the war on terror. The author of articles related to reclaiming the 14th Amendment, racial profiling, affirmative action, and the mass incarceration of African-Americans, among others, Reggie is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law in Chapel Hill, where he was his graduating class president and the recent recipient of the Law School’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. Reggie is also a graduate of the Georgetown Nonprofit Management Executive Certificate Program and has been a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School.

          Shira Goodman is CeaseFirePA’s Executive Director.  She has extensive experience in the nonprofit world and joined the organization following ten years as a public policy advocate working for better courts in Pennsylvania and a career in labor law. She is involved in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, and serves on the board of the Legal Intelligencer and several community nonprofits.

           Dorothy Johnson-Speight, MHS, LPC is the Founder and Executive Director of Mothers In Charge, Inc (MIC). She is a highly regarded leader, advocate, speaker, guest radio/television commentator and a clarion voice against the war to end senseless acts of violent crime. Her work, though rooted in Philadelphia, has led to national appearances and presentations across the United States and abroad.

          Keith Bailey is the Director of Interpersonal Violence Prevention Programs for Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR). His role with the organization is to directly oversee their violence prevention and restorative justice programs.

          Performances of brownsville song: b-side for tray, co-produced with Long Wharf Theater in New Haven, CT, run Tuesdays through Sundays until May 31.  Tickets starting at $25 are available by calling the PTC Box Office at 215-985-0420 or visiting PhiladelphiaTheatreCompany.org. 

          PTC’s 40^th Anniversary Season has been generously supported by Community Outreach Sponsor PECO, Accommodations Sponsor AKA Rittenhouse, Season Sponsor Center City Film & Video, and Official Beverage Sponsor WTSO.com.

 For further information, please call 215-735-7356 or visit www.philadelphiatheatrecompany.org