JANUARY 15, 2009 ISSUE
Ashe County To Celebrate Martin Luther King Day January 19
Mike Wiley, an actor, playwright and founder of Mike Wiley Productions, creates theatrical works based on events in African American history. He will perform Tired Souls: King and the Untold Stories of the Montgomery Bus Boycott on Monday, January 19, at the Ashe Arts Center in West Jefferson.To commemorate Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, the Ashe County Arts Council will sponsor a community celebration on Monday, January 19, at the Ashe Arts Center in West Jefferson. Beginning at 7:00 p.m., the program will feature musicians, student readings, tributes from local leaders and a featured performance by actor and playwright Mike Wiley.
Martin Luther King Day honors the life and dream of the late civil rights leader on the third Monday of January. King’s actual birthday is January 15.
Wiley is an actor and playwright who produces educational theatrical works for young people about African American history. At the Ashe Arts Center, Wiley will perform excerpts from Tired Souls: King and the Untold Stories of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The play documents the tales of Martin Luther King, Jr. and nearly a dozen of the hundreds of men and women who stood up to Jim Crow segregation laws, held tight to their bus money and walked for freedom for 381 days.
“The powerful presentation offers historical narrative dramatized as a patchwork quilt of cultures and communities inspiring the audience to seek opportunities in the shadow of success or failure and to make a change,” according to a press release issued by the Ashe Arts Council.
Wiley, who formerly worked with Roanoke, Va.’s Theatre IV and the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, has also produced works about Henry “Box” Brown, the Brown vs. Board of Education case that desegregated schools, Jackie Robinson and the Tuskegee Airmen. He holds a master of fine arts degree from UNC-Chapel Hill.
This performance is made possible in part by an Arts and Audiences Grant from the North Carolina Arts Council. Wiley will also perform Jackie Robinson: A Game Apart and One Noble Journey for students at Ashe County High School and Ashe County Middle School on Tuesday, January 20.
The program at the Ashe Arts Center is free and open to the public. For more information, call 336-846-ARTS.
Want To Go?
Date: Monday, January 19
Time: 7:00 p.m.
Location: Ashe Arts Center, West Jefferson
Cost: Free
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