Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director of The Public Theater, announced today that The Public Theater, the cast of HAIR, Broadway Impact and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA) are holding a mobilization rally for New York's theater community in advance of October's National Equality March.
The rally will be held at Central Park's Delacorte Theater (enter at 81st Street and Central Park West or 79th Street and Fifth Avenue) on Friday, August 28 from 2:30-3:30 PM and will be open to the public. Noteworthy members of both the civil rights and theater communities will be on hand to speak, including Oskar Eustis, legendary gay rights activist Cleve Jones, HAIR star Gavin Creel and producer David Stone.
"The theater community has always been a force for change. This rally will give us the chance to come together to spread the message of Equality and hopefully encourage others to join us at the National Equality March in October," said Gavin Creel.
The producers of the Tony Award-winning revival of HAIR previously announced that, in an unprecedented move, they are canceling the show's Sunday, October 11th performance so that the entire cast can join the National Equality March in Washington, D.C.
Last May, civil rights activist David Mixner called for a national march on Washington in support of equal rights for LGBT people, calling on prominent LGBT community leaders Cleve Jones and Torie Osborne to execute and organize it. Days later in Fresno, California, at a rally of approximately 5000 people from all walks of life protesting the California Supreme Court's decision to uphold Prop. 8, Cleve Jones stepped to the podium and committed to Mixner's plea. At that moment Jones' organization, Equality Across America, was born, along with its first mission: the National Equality March. Between now and October, Equality Across America will develop grassroots leadership in all 435 congressional districts to ensure that their message is heard loudly and clearly by elected officials all across America. In October 1979, LGBT activists from across the country marched on Washington to fight for equal rights towards all. Exactly 30 years later a new generation of equality activists will take to the National Mall and continue that fight -- and not quit until LGBT people are granted equal protection in all matters governed by civil law in all 50 states.
For more information visit, www.HairBroadway.com, www.BroadwayImpact.com and www.NationalEqualityMarch.com
Photo by Adam Nemser PHOTOlink
