New Play About Voter Suppression Comes to D.C.

It was announced today that the acclaimed not for profit theatre company, Cause Celebre, Ltd. and the National Action Network, a not for profit civil rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton are presenting WHEN TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH, a compelling new play about voter suppression. The show will take place on November 9th at the Shiloh Baptist Church at 6pm, followed by a Q & A with the author, director and cast.

WHEN TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH is written by noted New York based playwright Susan Charlotte. Ms. Charlotte is also the founder of the Cause Célèbre, a not-or-profit theatre company which connects theatre and film with important issues.

The response each time to the play, which revolved around a black woman's traumatic experience the day that she tries to vote, was electric. The Q & As were filled with passion as audiences showed that their voices would not be suppressed.

In 2012 the issue of voter suppression came to light around the country. As the election of the President of the United States neared and the issue deepened Charlotte turned to her writing. In 2012 the consensus was that voter suppression would not be an important issue in 2015. But the issue is more charged than ever and the play more relevant. So Charlotte decided to bring back her play once again to different audiences. Cause Célèbre and Al Sharpton's National Action Network presented WHEN TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH at NAN's House of Justice in Harlem. Once again the audience, which consisted of the very young and the very old, responded with such powerful emotions.

The next step for the play-Washington D.C.-at the Shiloh Baptist Church. What better place than D.C. And what better time than November, the month of elections. The goal is to present the highest caliber of theatre about this very important issue and to begin a dialogue about voter suppression.

The play takes place on election day, 2012 in a voting center. Margaret, an eighty year old black woman who has voted all her life, is faced with a question that she thought she would never have to answer: "Where is your voter ID?" She is told she must have a passport or a driver's license. Her response:

"I don't have no passport. But that doesn't mean I can't vote. And they lost my birth certificate. But don't mean I wasn't born."

Charlotte says that she wrote When Truth Is Not Enough because of her mother, an immigrant who deeply valued her right to vote. She thought of her mother who did not have a driver's license or a passport. And she was relieved that her mother, no longer alive, did not have to witness the terrible state of affairs that our country is in. The truth is you may have voted your whole life. And the truth is that though you may be eligible to vote, the truth may not be enough.

WHEN TRUTH IS NOT ENOUGH is directed by Antony Marsellis. It stars Lisa Bostnar, Sean Dougherty, Ebony Jo-Ann and Dominique Sharpton.

It is presented at the Shiloh Baptist Church at 1500 Ninth Street NW

(the corner of 9th and P Streets, N.W., near the Verizon Center) in

Washington, DC. on Monday, November 9th from 6-8pm.

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