Patina Miller, Will Swenson and More Join #WHILEWEBREATHE A Night of Creative Protest

Producers Brian Moreland (Blue) and Arvind Ethan David (Jagged Little Pill) have announced #WhileWeBreathe: A Night of Creative Protest.

The evening brings together writers, directors, performers, editors, composers, sound designers, and more from both stage and screen, and will feature world premiere short works, written and produced in response to this crux moment in American history.

#WhileWeBreathe, A Night of Creative Protest will include new works written by Lee Edward Colston II (The First Deep Breath, "For Life"), Arvind Ethan David ("Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"), Cheryl L. Davis (The Bones of Giants, "Law & Order: SVU"), Nathan Alan Davis (Nat Turner in Jerusalem, "Sorry For Your Loss"), Steve Harper ("God Friended Me," "American Crime"), Azure D. Osborne-Lee (Mirrors, Glass), Liza Jessie Peterson (The Peculiar Patriot, Bamboozled), Bianca Sams (At Rivers End, "Charmed"), Keenan Scott II (Thoughts of a Colored Man, "A Luv Tale"), Aurin Squire (Fire Season, "Good Fight"), and Khari Wyatt (Stomping Down at Sugar's Love, "Africana!").

Directors will include Steve H. Broadnax III (The Hot Wing King, The Hip Hop Project), Carl Cofield (The Bacchae, Antigone), Bianca LaVerne Jones (Armed, FEAST), Patricia McGregor (Lights Out, Nat King Cole The Public's Hamlet), Pratibha Parmar (Nina's Heavenly Delights, Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth), Charles Randolph- Wright (Motown: The Musical on Broadway, TV: OWN's "Greenleaf"), Kirya Traber (Both My Grandfathers, Permitted), and Tamara Tunie ("Law & Order: SVU," Flight).

The casts of the new works featured in A Night of Creative Protest will include Birgundi Baker ("The Chi," "Heathers"), NAACP Theater Award winner Vanessa Bell Calloway (Coming to America, Letters from Zora), Bryan Terrell Clark (Hamilton, "When They See Us"), Neil Brown Jr. ("Insecure," "SEAL Team"), Keith Eric Chappelle ("Billions," Cyrano), Kevin R. Free (Dave, Eighth Grade), Obie Award winner Alfie Fuller (BLKS, Is God Is), Gold Derby nominee Marcus Henderson (Get Out, "Tacoma FD"), Chris Herbie Holland (What's in a Name?, The Cancer Patient), NAACP and Obie Award winner Ty Jones (The Great Society, The Blacks: A Clown Show), Tony and Outer Critic's Circle Award winner Patina Miller (Pippin, "Madam Secretary"), Lori Elizabeth Parquet (Dispatches from (A)mended America, Rizing), Esau Pritchett ("Iron Fist," "Prodigal Son"), Obie and Outer Critic's Circle Award winner Michele Shay (Seven Guitars, Meetings), Hailey Stone (Matters of Chance, Nasir), Obie Award winner and Tony nominee Will Swenson (Jerry Springer: The Opera, Hair), TL Thompson (Is This A Room, Straight White Men), and NAACP Image and Primetime Emmy Award winner and Golden Globe nominee Lynn Whitfield ("Greenleaf," The Josephine Baker Story).

The evening will benefit the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc and The Bail Project, Black Organizing for Leadership and Dignity (BOLD), BYP100 Education Fund, Forced Trajectory Project (FTP), The Justice Committee, and SONG.

#WhileWeBreathe made the following statement:

"We are a group of BIPOC Artists and Allies, unconditionally committed to ending police and state brutality, institutionalized racism and the interrelated structural issues of racial and economic injustice, both in the broader world and in the theatre and entertainment industries.

These issues have been with us too long and are now tragically exacerbated by the corona virus pandemic.

We know that Black Lives Matter.

We are optimistic that this crux moment can bring reform and meaningful systemic change. We are motivated by the fierce energy of now.

We believe that as storytellers, we have an obligation to contribute to this moment. We have the platform and the freedom and the breath to speak truth to power and tell the stories that reveal the common truth in us all.

"I can't breathe" cried George Floyd, cried Eric Garner and too many untold others before they were murdered.

We can breathe, and While We Breathe, we will use our breath to tell our stories, and use those stories to raise awareness, to raise funds and to make change.

Our words have power, they have fire, they have force.

While We Breathe: listen, learn, act."

#WhileWeBreathe will premiere on Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 9PM EDT/ 6PM PDT on WhileWeBreathe.com, as well as YouTube Live. Following the premiere, all of the works will be available for viewing after the event has concluded.