PR2013 AUg 15

Contact: Adam Miller, Managing Director (205) 391-2925 / amiller@sheltonstate.edu

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Theatre Tuscaloosa and Project1Voice

present

FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963

Written by Christina Ham Directed by Tina Turley

A National Staged Reading Commemorating the

50th Anniversary of the Birmingham Bombing that

Galvanized the Civil Rights Movement

September 15, 2013 in the Bean-Brown Theatre

August 15, 2013 (TUSCALOOSA, AL) -- Theatre Tuscaloosa and Project1Voice will present a free, staged reading of the play FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963 on September 15, 2013, at 2 p.m. in the Bean-Brown Theatre on Shelton State’s Martin Campus. Written by playwright Christina Ham and locally directed by Tina Turley, the reading commemorates the 50th anniversary of the bombing that took the lives of four young girls at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Following the reading, there will be a post-performance discussion.

Every child imagines what they want to be when they grow up. The four little girls who attended the 16th Street Baptist Church were no exception. Commissioned and originally produced by SteppingStone Theatre, FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963 centers on Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie Mae Collins, four little girls who are multi-talented and bursting with promise and who share their hopes and dreams against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. While Denise dreams of becoming a doctor, Carole looks forward to the dress she will one day wear at the cotillion, Cynthia imagines her life as a mathematics professor at the local university, and Addie Mae envisions a life as a professional baseball player. The realities of the segregated political climate that will put a stop to these dreams swirl around them and eventually culminate in the fateful events of September 15, 1963. This play examines what it is like to be a child in the most extreme circumstances.

“The girls that died that day were silenced,” said Director Tina Turley. “We think they deserve a voice. We will honor them and others who struggled during the Civil Rights movement with this reading.”

The reading is part of Project1Voice’s nation-wide, simultaneous event of staged readings commemorating this seminal event in American history. The bombing helped to galvanize the American Civil Rights Movement only weeks after the historic march on Washington where Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. The readings will feature multi–generational casts of national and local theatre, television, and film actors. A full list of locations across the country is available at www.project1voice.org.

The four little girls in Theatre Tuscaloosa’s production will be played by Desiree Applewhite (Denise McNair), Kalicia Sanders (Cynthia Wesley), Candace Hilton (Carole Robertson), and Nyla Williams (Addie Mae Collins). The ensemble cast members include Ashley Betts, Brandie Bowden, Margaret Carr, Asharia Cockrell, Myiesha Duff, Ciara Duggins, Diva Hall, Clemmie LaShaun Hilton, Israel Hilton, Zoe Jones, Porsche Kemp, Jaaden McMillan, Jayden Rainey, Morgan Rainey, Destiny Stewart, Charles Taylor, Maalena Walcott, Monica Williams, and Willie Williams.

“I am honored to be teaming up with Project1Voice on this nation-wide reading,” said Turley. “I look forward to the discussion that will follow the event. We have come a long way these last 50 years, but we still have a ways to go when it comes to understanding and acceptance of one another.”

FOUR LITTLE GIRLS: Birmingham 1963 will be a one-time presentation on Sunday, September 15th at 2 p.m. in the Bean-Brown Theatre on Shelton State Community College’s Martin Campus, 9500 Old Greensboro Road. This production is free to patrons. Seating for this event will be general admission and is limited. Patrons may reserve up to four tickets each in advance. Arrangements can also be made for groups in advance. Tickets and more information are available at www.theatretusc.com or (205) 391-2277.

ABOUT WRITER CHRISTINA HAM

Christina Ham's plays have been developed both nationally and internationally with the Center Theatre Group, The Goodman Theatre, The Guthrie Theatre, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Penumbra Theatre, Summer Play Festival/Theatre Row, SteppingStone Theatre, and the Tokyo International Arts Festival, among others. She is a two-time recipient of the McKnight Advancement Grant and a Jerome Fellowship from the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, a Jerome Emerging Artist Residency at Tofte Lake Center, the Marianne Murphy Women & Philanthropy Award in Playwriting, and a MacDowell Colony Residency. Her feature-length screenplay, Booker, was a finalist for Tribeca Film Institute's All Access program.

ABOUT PROJECT1VOICE

Project1Voice is a not-for-profit performing arts service organization founded by New York-based actor/producer Erich McMillan-McCall to nurture, promote, strengthen, and preserve the legacy and tradition of African American theatre and playwrights. Established in response to the severe economic downturn of 2008 that had a profoundly devastating impact upon African American theatres across the country, Project1Voice focuses on providing solutions for sustainability and long term institutional growth with programs that educate, enlighten, and entertain. Project1Voice strives to preserve the legacy of African American theatre and cultivate future generations of artists and arts patrons. More information about Project1Voice is available at www.project1voice.org, www.facebook.com/Project1VOICE or www.twitter.com/P1VOICE.

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