This summer, we’re very excited to produce PARADE, a Tony Award-winning musical based on a true story with a message that remains relevant and topical to this day.
Amid religious intolerance, political injustice and racial tension, PARADE explores the endurance of love and hope against all the odds — themes especially relevant in today’s divisive and disconcerting political climate. In 1913, Leo Frank, a Brooklyn-raised Jew living in Georgia, was put on trial for the murder of a 13-year-old girl. Armed with a rousing score and a powerful script, our summer musical takes an unflinching look into the darkest corners of America’s history. It’s a story that needs to be told now more than ever.
“I have spent many years carrying the facts of that day around in my head,” said composer Jason Robert Brown. “And I have always felt it was a very serious responsibility to be asked to give voice to Mary and to Leo Frank, her employer and the man accused of her murder. In revisiting the musical and the history that inspires it, we ensure that the story is continually told — that the fear and shame in the Jewish community does not prevail and that we continue to look deeper at our pasts to preserve our futures.”
PARADE starts performances on June 30 on the Cripe Stage and will run through July 30.
A very big thank you to all the supporters of this production, who make it possible for us to present enduring and human stories in this community — Executive Producers Sophie & Larry Cripe, Associate Producers Laurie Smits Staude, and Rachelle Menaker & Eddie Schuller. And, of course, our Season Producers Bette & Wylie Aitken, who have sponsored our entire schedule of shows in 2017.
Leave a Reply