On August 26, just as Labor Day and the new school year loom around the corner for Lynn parents and kids, a student theater troupe will take the stage at LynnArts and bring the American Civil Rights Movement alive with song.
“Let Freedom Sing” is a tribute to the changes that swept across the United States in the 1950s and 1960s leading to a redefinition of American society. The children who will rehearse for the production during the week preceding the performance weren’t born during the Civil Rights era and Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rosa Parks are names in history books they study in school.
But the courage demonstrated by those Civil Rights leaders will be distilled following a week’s worth of practice into a musical production billed by production author Michael Palter as “a shared history.”
Palter and “Let Freedom Sing” co-musical director Lynne Jackson and producer Robb Dimmick believe a mix of jazz, history and young minds open to challenges can produce a sum greater than its parts.
All three have extensive music and theater experience and they collectively see the value in passing that experience on to children who, in Palter’s words, “have never performed in public or been exposed to jazz.”
Jazz is a Rainbow is not only a youth-oriented talent program aimed at spotting young stars and shining a light on them. Palter regards the program as a mission with the goal of surrounding children with music.
Some children pick up musical instruments with help from musically-inclined parents or dedicated teachers. But music all too often is audible wallpaper somewhere in the background of a kid’s life.
Palter, a Revere native, and Jackson launched Jazz is a Rainbow more than a dozen years ago to build a bridge between urban youth and music and the theater. Their talents convinced them that art forms seemingly unapproachable to many poorer kids could become attainable if kids were introduced to theater, music and history in one fun, energetic week.
Their previous Rainbow productions serve as proof that the pair along with Dimmick understand that music’s role is to inspire people. LynnArts is built around the same goal.
When the curtain rises on “Let Freedom Sing” on Aug. 26, Palter and company won’t be aiming for a perfect interpretation of the Civil Rights Movement or a flawless musical or theatrical production. They want the production’s singers and actors to be transformed by music and drama so that they start the school year in a week or two with a new perspective on history and a new appreciation for the arts.
Music lives in the human heart and the youngest hearts can carry it the farthest.