Opens Off-Broadway on May 19, 2016 (previews begin May 3) at The Westside Theatre (407 West 43rd Street)
“Ted” Terry, of the Theodore Myles Agency in California and longtime friend of Dick Gregory, is often working diligently in the background to make sure that history will never be forgotten. Over the past 10 years, he has connected the dots to inspire the dynamic collaboration between writers, producers and directors to bring to the stage the one-man play about the legendary Dick Gregory — Turn Me Loose written by Gretchen Law and produced by John Legend and Mike Jackson.
The production stars Tony Award-nominee, Emmy and NAACP Image Award-winner Joe Morton (“Scandal”) in the lead role of Dick Gregory, under the direction of John Gould Rubin. The play also features actor John Carlin, as well as an original song by John Legend. When asked what drew him to the project, John Legend said, “People like Dick Gregory, Paul Robeson, Harry Belafonte and Nina Simone show me what the definition of an artist is – it isn’t just to make art but to speak truth to what’s happening, speak beauty into the world, speak love into the world and also… get involved.”
Turn Me Loose is a new play about 60’s comic genius Dick Gregory — the first Black stand-up to make white audiences laugh at the absurdity of bigotry. The play reveals how the overwhelming power of activism enticed Gregory from one of the most successful show business careers of the postwar era into a life of sacrifice and danger alongside Martin Luther King, Medgar Evers and other Civil Rights leaders. Wielding razor-sharp wit Gregory hacked away at myths about race,poverty, war, and politics.
In a recent interview, President Obama called Dick Gregory one of his two favorite comics ever. The other was Richard Pryor who himself said “Dick Gregory was the greatest and he was the first.”Gregory is still championing the same messages today, at age 83. In Turn Me Loose, a new generation of audiences will discover one of the most prophetic, committed, authentic, confrontational — and hysterically funny — public figures of our time. He is a last living champion from a remarkable period of struggle for dignity and freedom. Dick Gregory is a hero among us and his utterly unique brand of heroism has been re-discovered.
“It’s a beautiful piece of work,” Joe Morton said, “The conflict, basically, is watching this man who broke the color line on television in terms of being a comedian, morph into becoming the activist he eventually became.”
“Dick Gregory is both a great comedian and a legendary activist whose life straddles his personal struggle between those two all-consuming endeavors,…” added Director John Gould Rubin.
Playwright Gretchen Law added, “Dick Gregory entreats us to listen to the universe for cues as to what it means to be responsive persons of action in messy and unconscionable human affairs.”She adds, “ I was fortunate enough to grow up in a household listening to Mr. Gregory the comedian. We laughed and cried; his humor and his truth resonated. Now I’ve been blessed to have this opportunity to write about him”
For more information please visit www.TurnMeLoosePlay.com. Tickets are now on sale via Telecharge.com or by phone at (212) 239-6200.
