Emerson, Rees, Cerveris, Raff & More Join For Broadway Stands Up For Freedom

Emmy Award winner Michael Emerson ("Lost") and Emmy and Tony nominee Roger Rees ("...Nicholas Nickleby", Indiscretions) to join Tony Award winners Michael Cerveris (Sweeny Todd) and Randy Graff (City of Angels) and Tony nominees Daphne Rubin-Vega (Rent, Les Miserables), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Spelling Bee), Michael Rupert (Falsettos, Legally Blonde), Stephen Bogardus (Love! Valour! Compassion!), Liz Callaway (Baby) and Gavin Creel (Hair) for "Broadway Stands up for Freedom!," a benefit concert to support the youth programs of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

The concert will take place on Monday, July 20 at 7:30 p.m. at the Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 La Guardia Place at Washington Square South.

Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner will once again serve as honorary chair of the event with NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. Other performers scheduled to appear include Carrie Preston (HBO's "True Blood"), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Spelling Bee), Todd Buonopane (Spelling Bee, "30 Rock"), composer Brian Lowdermilk (Henry and Mudge), founding performer Liana Stampur (Jersey Boys National Tour), and much of the cast of Hair.

Seth Rudetsky ("Seth's Broadway Chatterbox") will Host and musical direct, and Jen Bender (associate director of Avenue Q and resident director of The Lion King) will co-direct with Danny Goldstein (Godspell).

The NYCLU has been challenging government abuse of power for more than 50 years, most recently taking on everything from torture and government spying on innocent Americans to NYPD racial profiling and the Rockefeller Drug Laws. The NYCLU also has a vital youth and student rights program which is currently working to end overly-aggressive policing in city public schools and abusive military recruitment tactics, as well as training thousands of peer educators through the Teen Health Initiative to understand and advocate for their right to confidential reproductive health care. As part of the youth and student rights program, the NYCLU is evaluating scores of entries - poetry, artwork, music and essays - that young people have submitted to the organization's annual Student Expression contest. The winning entries will be read and/or performed throughout the performance.

"Broadway Stands Up for Freedom!," now in its seventh year, was founded by performers Liana Stampur and Erich Bergen as a way to put into action their personal dedication to reproductive rights and other civil liberties issues relevant to young people.

Individual tickets start at $60, and sponsorship packages are available.

For more information about the show, including a complete list of performers, and to purchase tickets, visit www.nyclu.org/bway.

The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is one of the nation's foremost defenders of civil liberties and civil rights. Founded in 1951 as the New York affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, we are a not-for-profit, nonpartisan organization with eight chapters and regional offices and nearly 50,000 members across the state.

Our mission is to defend and promote the fundamental principles and values embodied in the Bill of Rights, the U.S. Constitution, and the New York Constitution, including freedom of speech and religion, and the right to privacy, equality and due process of law for all New Yorkers.

For more information about the NYCLU, visit www.nyclu.org.