Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration

We are excited to see Metro Theater Company artists in The Saint Louis Art Museum’s virtual edition of their annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Celebration: Joy as an Act of Resistance. This presentation is inspired by photographs of Dr. King by Pulitzer Prize–winning photographer Moneta Sleet Jr. that embody the concept of joy as an act of resistance. The program’s creative director, Jacqueline Thompson, spotlights three St. Louis based performing artists, Alicia Revé, Robert Crenshaw, and Freeman Word who respond to the photographs from the Museum’s collection through music, dance, and spoken word.

Presented with generous support from Edward Jones.

Jacqueline Thompson is a Director, Actor, Associate Professor of Theatre at University of Missouri-St. Louis and a Metro Theater Company (MTC) Associate Artist. She is directing MTC’s February production of Last Stop on Market Street. She previously directed MTC's productions of Idris Goodwin's Ghost and Jeremy Schaefer’s Games Dad Didn’t Play and performed with MTC in Afflicted: Daughters of Salem and the virtual play Early Days.

Alicia Revé was most recently seen in MTC’s Digging Up Dessa and has performed in MTC productions of Ghost, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Hundred Dresses, and Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure.

Robert Crenshaw is making his debut with Metro Theater Company in Last Stop on Market Street. His last productions were with The Black Rep, Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, Ain’t Mis Behavin’, and Spell #7. Robert was also in an Off Broadway production of Antigone In Ferguson, that went on an international tour.

Freeman Word is a teacher, mentor, and people’s poet in the tradition of shamans, griots, and disenfranchised urban artists.