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The Brown Foundation and the American Jazz Museum invite you to the Kansas City, Missouri premier of Now Let Me Fly, the renowned play commemorating Brown v. Board of Education.
Now Let Me Fly, based on hundreds of oral histories and personal interviews, is an entertaining and educational look at the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision of 1954. Learn more about the play.
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James McDaniel: NYPD Blue
Queen Bey: acclaimed Jazz singer
Kelley Hunt: Gospel and Blues artist
A regional acting cast from Kansas City
James McDaniel will read the part of Thurgood Marshall. McDaniel played Lieutenant Arthur Fancy on NYPD Blue from 1993-2001 and has recent guest appearances on Stargate SG-1 and Life As We Know It. McDaniel won the prestigious Obie Award and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Wendall in the New York stage production of Before It Hits Home. He also received the Clarence Derwent Award for his performance as Paul Portier in the Tony Award-winning Broadway play, Six Degrees of Separation. McDaniel appeared on Broadway in Someone Who'll Watch Over Me. Besides NYPD Blue, McDaniel has appeared in numerous television series including Civil Wars, L.A. Law, Gabriel's Fire and Crime Story.
Queen Bey is has been hailed as Kansas City's Ambassador of Jazz and will be providing vocal accompanyment. A classy, scat-singing vocalist, she brings to mind such musical legends as Bessie Smith, Dinah Washington and Sarah Vaughn. Her repertoire ranges from blues and ballads to classic jazz, scatting, and improvisation. Ms. Bey is also a talented actress and composes and arranges music. Queen Bey has performed in concert halls and theatres throughout the world, delighting audiences in South America, Europe, Africa and the United States. Learn more about Queen Bey at her website.
Kelley Hunt is the composer for the music accompanying Now Let Me Fly and will perform with Queen Bey. Ms. Hunt's soulful, powerful voice and remarkable range allows her to boil down emotional issues, personal experiences and observations to simple, direct, fiery arrows aimed right at the heart. She has naturally combined the influences of R&B, roots rock, blues, gospel, folk and soul into her own style and sound wrapped in an earthy Midwestern identity. The sound of the part of the country where she grew up (the grasslands of Kansas' Flint Hills) is unmistakably in her phrasing and delivery as well as in her rush toward the substance and depth in the subjects she writes and sings about. Learn more about Kelley Hunt at her website.
Learn more about award-winning playwright Marcia Cebulska.
Kevin Willmott directed the Topeka premier of Now Let Me Fly on May 17, 2004. He has recently been in the spotlight for his film CSA: Confederate States of America which premiered to four sold out shows at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. IFC Films purchased the distribution rights to the film. A native Kansan, Kevin also wrote, directed and produced the film Ninth Street with Isaac Hayes and Martin Sheen and has written scripts for a number of television and big screen films. Besides producing and directing films, Kevin teaches in the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Kansas. Learn more about Kevin Willmott.
Producer Scott Richardson has been an executive at both A&E and ABC television networks and has worked as producer for Kurtis Productions and The History Channel. He is currently producing and developing several film and television projects and is a Senior Consultant for Kurtis Productions, Inc. Scott is a native Kansan with over 20 years of experience working in national television and performing arts programming.
Playwright: Marcia Cebulska
Director: Kevin Willmott
Producer: Scott Richardson
All contents © 1997-2005, Brown Foundation for Educational Equity, Excellence and Research. All Rights Reserved.
Created: January 12, 2005.
URL: http://brownvboard.org/events/nlmf200502.htm.