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ACT ONE: Nehemiah Where I grew up Anger was easy to find People running, hustling all day Shadow boxing Standing on a street corner Making ends meet Looking beyond what your eyes can see Always a fight Black and white Winners and losers Stuck in their ambition Third grade They taught me how to be a tree Blowing in the wind How to shine like the sun And float like a feather Be solid as a rock And vulnerable like a flower A seed was planted inside of me To connect through movement To be in control but not in control Dance revealed me to myself Gave me a place to go I was hooked Ahead the path is frozen How do I cross to the other side Racism or repentance?

Greed or grievance?

We must rise up I am a man Nobody Insignificant Cast a stone in the ocean Can I change the world?

Or just make a ripple?

One day the world stopped COVID Empty streets Shattered homes Everyone drowning in screams of silence Trapped inside our homes Watching the world die slowly One screen at a time Hello Hey Nehemiah I gave you a call just to talk about a project I'm working on it sort of deals with the ongoing civil unrest My friend Obadiah wanted me to fight for justice To go to Colorado and to seek answers I was scared Had I lost my way?

Can I find myself in the mirror?

Or must I look deeper?

Do you have any time tomorrow?

Tomorrow would be good Will do Bye bye Fear keeps me from waking up Every day A question Without answers What was Is no more As the world changes So too must I No choice When the world stopped Artists and poets In cages of their own choosing I was drowning Afraid of the unknown I took a job 9 to 5 To keep my hustle To keep striving Keep moving Keep going Nemo is that you?

Yeah, hey Charlie What up bro?

Just getting off Hello bro!

How y'all feeling?

Alright, how was work?

Work was good They working me like crazy of course But... That's what happens when you work when you're working at Yeah a real job, right?

Post office as crazy as it is Yeah!

But it's good I got a call from Obadiah though He invited me to Colorado To work with a group there Colorado?

Yeah And we're doing a project we're doing a project based on on police brutality and racism and different things like that that we're experiencing all around America, basically Oh, yeah There's a lot of stuff going on Please be ever so careful cause we got a lot of dirty cops out there... a lot of dirty things out there there's just a lot going on in the world today So what happened again with your situation in Euclid?

Oh, yeah, um... Well I was going to go visit one of my friends I'm knocking on the door and two police just walk up to me out of nowhere They basically just racially profiled me and asked me if they can search me for weapons and all of this They got a call about suspicious activity in the building and I'm like, I'm a resident here you know like Crazy You know Then one of the police officers kneed me in my groin threw me to the ground and then the other police officer kicked me in my face while I was down like multiple times, like kind of like messed up my orbital bone Yeah, broke that eye socket Yeah, kind of you know I think that they were frustrated because they didn't know... what they was was looking for Yeah, they didn't necessarily know what they was looking for and they didnt want to be looking for nothing So they just making something You know Weeks later here a kid lost his life at the hands of the same cop Justice doesn't get served The city has to do something about this Still we pay taxes for these people to protect us Right, we're paying taxes for them to...

It's crazy You just gotta be careful.

Defnitely start off with some spiritual guidance cause once you get that spiritual guidance then that'll help lead you to direct your path You know, talk to Pastor Sadler you know see how that works out you know he may be able to shed some light I mean, you know, you have several pastors that you're able to deal with Start with that spiritual guidance first and let your heart roll with it That's how they do they come in after they moved out they come back to the house to still eat Well enjoy They like dogs they'll eat every time There's a little food up there on the thing if you want to feed them some more but... Y'all leave out these doors We don't know whether we coming back here or not All we can do is pray Be careful now All right.

I'll hit you up when I get home All right All right bye Flashing lights Guns on our streets Something minor ends your life Sometimes the cure is worse than the crime My grandmother taught us Always show respect around the police Don't reach for anything If you do Tell them what you're reaching for Hey Nehemiah Hey Reverend Paul, how are you?

I'm good Thanks for having me I'm glad you could come Always good to see you Nehemiah Yeah, always So how've you been?

I've been good I've just been working and trying to keep our community engaged in positive things and positive thoughts Okay okay Spread some light around the world through this dark time Well, transitioning time Yeah, yeah I think we're good Yeah, a little bit All of these things that have happened in the last 12 months have come together at the same time All these people have gotten become sick and now and folks losing jobs So it's kind of like a famine and all of these things biblical kind of things and all these lives being lost And all of this has created the the context for what happened in response to George Floyd Because people's emotions were at a heightened level Malcolm X always taught that we should get our freedom by any means necessary Dr. King, on the other hand suggested that we should always go with nonviolence We, African-Americans have been the most peaceful most conciliatory people for 400 years How long do you think you can put your knee on somebody's neck and have them just take it?

Yeah Okay.

How long does that happen?

And so as a result of that I believe that what happened in response to George Floyd right here in Cleveland when all of the windows downtown were broken out Id never seen anything like it Well they tried Okay When I went downtown I couldn't believe it All the windows had been had been broken Yeah Okay But as a result of that now we have major corporations who have dedicated billions of dollars to eradicating systemic racism in America That would not have happened if... if we were quiet we were peaceful That would not have happened If we had just said okay well that's just police brutality Another brother just got killed That's what they do Oh no See we wouldn't we would not have gotten the kind of response from America It was America who stood up What has to change is the way policing is done If policing is done equitably then people can accept it But when it's not done equitably then that's when it becomes an issue We know that power concedes nothing without a demand Those are the words of Frederick Douglass He says it never has and it never will I think that if you're able to convey that with your art if you're able to show how working together is so much better than being apart Being able to to help to build a more equitable and just society you know that takes work We're trying to pass on something healthier - a healthier legacy for people to be able to take the bar higher But more work needs to be done More work needs to be done So Nehemiah I'm putting all that on you Thank you Just what I needed Hi Let us know if there's anything we can help you with Yes I'm actually trying to find a book about racial justice in Cleveland Oh sure we got a whole section come on Okay This one the Assassination of Fred Hampton is really good Because there's a movie out right now a lot of people are trying to learn more about that Okay This one just out in paperback is amazing Okay This is about Carl Stokes well it's about the Glenville riots or uprising And it starts with the Glenville shootout which happened like the weekend before And this is amazing because Carl Stokes was poised to be the first Black mayor of a major city So this meant a lot And what's interesting is both Malcolm X and both Martin Luther King came up here Malcolm X came here and at Cory Methodist Church in Glenville he first gave his Ballot or Bullet speech Everybody thinks it happened in Detroit He first did it in Cleveland And he got a good response He's like, well let me go do this in Detroit too But he first did it in Cleveland Where he said to the Black people like hey how are you going to get your freedom?

Are you going to do it through voting or are you going to have to do it through violence right But it's really really good And the author's local he's a lawyer And I was so interested in this because I used it as research for a play I emailed him and said Hey can I take you out to lunch?

which you should always do call anybody all the time Most of the time everybody want a free meal or a free cup of coffee And he said sure let me take you out I'm legit, that is the book All right Well thank you for that I'm excited to read this And I'll reach out to him as well For real do.

I mean, I'm serious He's very kind and very generous You can even say Lisa Langford who is crazy and did finish her play Say it Okay will do Nice meeting you And your receipt.

Thank you sir Oh thank you so much Good luck Thank you I love it here I'll definitely be stopping back by And thank you again for the reference Have a good one As a child I had a dream over and over There was a fence at the end of my street I had to get over it I tried everything climbed it but fell down Tried to knock it over Threw things at it Each time I got a little closer A losing battle to get over that fence to the other side Asked myself, what was there?

If I ever made it I knew I'd run and keep running Never come back Hey Jim Nehemiah great to meet you Same here Thank you for taking the time to meet with me I'm excited to hear more about your book Ballots and Bullets I'm happy to share it As I understand it you you grew up in Glenville?

Yes I grew up right there on 105 off of Superior I don't know about your family if you know where your family... Actually my granddad is from Shelby, Alabama Yeah so about about 2/3 of the at the time about 2/3 of the residents were African-Americans who had migrated to Cleveland were from Alabama So because of these migrations African-Americans couldn't go anywhere but Hough or Glenville They had about 70,000 people each, each neighborhood It's about 17,000 each today So way overcrowded Schools overcrowded bad schooling, bad sanitation multiple families living in homes It was deteriorating badly Cory Methodist Church which I'm sure you know of Cory was where Dr. King came in 1963 and he came there straight from Birmingham, Alabama There were like 3,000 people jailed by Bull Connor who was the safety director and using those fire hoses and so forth and dogs Well King when he got out of jail came to Cleveland went to Cory Methodist Church to raise bail money Oh wow!

To get all those people out of jail A month later in Birmingham a church down there that he had been working out of was bombed by KKK people and four young little girls were killed You probably know of that in legend So that's all happening and the question begins to arise among people in the Black Freedom movement Is nonviolence the answer?

Because if you're dealing with monsters who will blow up little kids in a church you know should you also fight back?

Yeah And so during this time Malcolm X was on his journey and his journey took him through the Nation of Islam And then Malcolm X is invited to come to Cleveland to speak about desegregating the schools When a government tries to legislate make whites embrace Negroes all the government is doing is making hypocrites out of whit out of whites Whereas what the government should do is face the factors as they actually are bring these factors to light so that everybody can have an understanding of it and then these factors be removed and then something that will bring about peaceful relationship can be developed So he comes and when he comes to Cleveland he's in the same pulpit that Martin Luther King was a year earlier Cory Methodist Church And so from there he gives a speech its called The Ballot or the Bullet Speech But his thinking is let's try to do things peacefully through the ballot But if it doesn't work we have to have revolution behind it So you have to have a stick behind the peace And so one of the guys who saw Malcolm X speak was a guy named Fred Evans He was energized by that Ballot or Bullet speech when he saw Malcolm X He believed Black nationalism was the answer So he began to form a group in Glenville Well here's the ballot, in '67 Carl Stokes runs for mayor and he's the first African-American candidate for mayor And sure enough you know Carl Stokes wins so it's this day of jubilee here in Cleveland And Stokes is on the cover of Newsweek and Time Its a huge moment in American history So six months after that win King is killed in Memphis and it doesn't surprise Fred Evans at all and they become more and more embittered as the months go by over what had happened And so they begin to gather rifles and buy ammunition and they want to have a war with police The problem is that Carl Stokes had created an antipoverty program called Cleveland Now Anti-poverty program that was going to be huge like a billion dollars over 10 years in Cleveland for schools for housing for jobs all the things that were needed health And the problem is that Fred Evans uses money from Cleveland Now for a summer program that he was going to do for kids to buy the rifles And so that summer when this shootout happens there's a long story about how it started and who started the first shooting But the end of the day three policemen were shot dead on the scene Fifteen were wounded several of whom should have died I mean bad... real combat And three of the nationalists were killed on the scene Several others were wounded Some I believe were burned down in a house that police finally just set on fire that had snipers in it This was the Ballot and the Bullet This was Carl Stokes winning And this was then when King was killed this was the bullet You know this was the revolution behind it that really ends this wonderful program Cleveland Now It's the end of it once they find out the money's been used to kill cops Mr. Mayor would you comment on published reports that the money to purchase the guns came from Cleveland Now money?

I have asked Dean Ostrom to please investigate this as quickly as possible and get back to me a report about it You know the violence that Fred Evans started to make his point was just entirely destructive at the end of the day You know it ended this wonderful anti-poverty program And you know a lot of people were killed and injured and you know it really didn't result in any material difference In fact it resulted in moving backwards Yeah In the last year you know with George Floyd the kind of protests you saw around the country everybody woke up those mornings and said change is coming Where's the change?

You left me with chills just now Yeah And a lot of inspiration and thoughts to really you know manifest and meditate on as I move forward throughout this process It's really important to reflect back on it right now as we hopefully turn a corner and start another you know era of seeking freedom And you ought to go down to Hough some time and look around down there Okay definitely Well thank you so much Jim for meeting with me again this evening Thank you Bye bye Here in Hough Riots destroyed the neighborhood The bones of our forefathers lie beneath my feet They tried to make a better world but their hopes ended in violence and broken dreams My city is a skeleton abandoned by racism segregation and fear When will it stop?

When will we move forward?

When will we learn to trust each other and have each other's backs?

The future relies on what we do today We have to educate ourselves on where we come from and where we're going is a long way away We must rebuild reestablish, reconnect with our foundation, our roots our history Listen Where did they go?

I can almost hear their voices What the hell?

Yeah, I was calling I needed a tow truck Yeah my front tire is off the rim or the wheel or the car It's a never ending battle making your cars better but also trying to better yourself Disruptions in our lives that seem to be disasters at the time but end up redirecting our lives in a meaningful way Think of it this way If you got a flat tire what would you do?

Change the tire?

Or get out of the car and slash the other three?

No Get back on the road Don't dwell on it Don't beat yourself up That gets you nowhere The greater the obstacle the more glory in overcoming it Being challenged in life is inevitable Being defeated is optional If you can find a path with no obstacles it probably doesn't lead anywhere Obstacles don't block the path They are the path Can we start over?

and make a new promise for our children and for our future?

We must find the beat of our generation We must resurrect our dreams listen to the spirits of our ancestors I'm dreaming of a new city where flowers rise up on the tombs of history where we live life in blinding color We play, draw, dance and sing We exist here and we exist now Jump and then bring the other leg through Let's go from the top It makes more sense Yeah five, six, seven, eight... And one two step up then slide then double and single turn one two out in head head up and through Alright one more time with that five, six, seven, eight Welcome Sometimes if you walk right into art if you're not used to coming to museums you can feel a little bit uncomfortable And so we're gonna walk this way to go downstairs to where's this special exhibition Okay yeah So what we're going to do today is take a look at a large scale work by Kara Walker who created this piece which is called The Republic of New Africa at a Crossroads And so we're going to take a look at it and think about how silhouettes work in this work yes That really meets you at the door Yes exactly I don't know if you've seen some of the selects that are typically larger than life size What is the real meaning of a silhouette?

And it can be beautiful but also grotesque and devastating And that simultaneity of those two things speaks to me like of the tension that makes a good dance Please tell me a little bit more like about how these ideas are helping you to craft or choreograph?

We're trying to create something that makes it easier to accept for people to be like, Oh okay this is something that's going on And creatively see a way to make change What do you see that makes you say trauma first?

The red, the blood the dark The question becomes are we forcing people to reckon with this trauma?

or are we offering Black flesh yet again?

for consumption by a largely white audience So but I mean But a lot of you know where we're going is about where we come from and recognizing that This is a deep picture Yes yes But it's also like you know really strikingly beautiful Exactly, exactly, so I see like that in the lower parts there's like these grass roots or something that's growing out of the people as well So it was like even though like theyre they could be passed on or murdered they're still growing Like there's something still growing within them Really forcing us to think about slavery's afterlives in our presence and how grotesque it is that it persists because of our inability to reckon I'm definitely going to really meditate on this and and see what what my job is to propel us forward as well as artists and as people Thank you so much It was such a pleasure It was such a pleasure.

Anytime Thank you.

Thank you for spending the time Thank you for making it ACT TWO: The Silhouettes I was a storyteller in diapers As a child I was drawn to the light of the stage mesmerized by music moving curtains long shadows and the magic of dance Stories larger than life Through theater I found my tribe We learned to tell stories to hear the silence of the audience to put the audience in our shoes to tell a story so perfect that we would find at the end a treasure chest full of thunderous applause Then one day we asked a question Can we change the world?

Can we bring light to the darkness?

Bring truth to the light?

We started with a shoplight and a sheet a wing and a prayer a blank canvas to paint on Out of the shadows and the light came a bear a skier And then the mountains Every time we struggle we turn to the mountains We dream how it will feel once we reach the top It's a fight every step of the way But we never give up If one person holds us back it's harder for all of us to move forward We are stronger together than apart Through teamwork we climbed to the top of the mountain We made it to the biggest stage in the world We won the Golden Buzzer Shows were booked through next year We were ready to travel and perform Then suddenly overnight a pandemic everything was canceled everything The kids should have given up but they didn't They overcame it They never gave up on me I never gave up on them We faced our fears together So many struggles this year so much heartache and loss So many beautiful souls that didn't make it Oh my gosh there's my girls Hi girls How are you?

So ladies I know this is difficult I know that it's scary but we have each other and we get through anything together We've already decided this so we will get through this Good all right let's just start I know you guys are warmed up...

It was a scary time for all of us To be strong to lead the cast through this frightening time This was my purpose We found a way to train through the isolation We bonded and became stronger together After several months we found a way to come back together Hi lovelies, how are you?

We formed an oasis of masks and temperature checks quarantines and trust We relit the sparks of creativity One day a phone call Hold on a second I'm going to... A voice on the other end With an idea, a seed to plant Uh, do you have a moment?

against racism and injustice a performance to bring light to the darkness Say hi to Obadiah Hi Obadiah His name was Obadiah He spoke of George Floyd and police brutality A horrific moment A turning point for us all He wondered if we could heal the divide and find a solution between shadows and light between black and white I was excited but nervous Thank you Lynne All right Have a wonderful day You too I'll email you back Does it sound interesting?

Yeah!

I don't know How do you guys feel about a racism issue?

I think it's really important that we do something like that it's a really big deal right now So it's not just with the police things happen I think obviously change needs to happen And you also need to be aware that if we're in the middle of it and it turns south and if things don't happen the way they've been promised I will call it I will stop production I will stop filming you We will not be part of it I believe that change needs to happen but not by beating up shop owners and burning down small businesses One police officer's actions do not represent all police officers People don't have to hate to make change in this world Obadiah and I agree that to find solutions we must come together and listen to one another Martin Luther King said Darkness cannot drive out darkness Only light can do that Hate cannot drive out hate Only love can do that I feared the power of yes but I needed to do more And now Obadiah and Nehemiah are coming to Colorado to seek answers through art and shadows ACT THREE: Light And Shadows Oh my gosh Thank you for making all this happen I guess we can do this Okay uh huh yeah Come on in Thank you.

Thank you Welcome to Denver Thank you.

Thank you Well can I take your coat?

Do you want to just settle in?

We'll get you Yeah, let's put you This is our little theater area right here So if you want to claim a chair for your space Well I have to say thanks for... not thanks Thanks is a really inadequate word for it just to have a vision like you did and how it happened and to make it happen to me is so spectacular This is new for me because I usually walk in completely prepared Like I have it set not, I mean I have it all set We change it as we go to make it better But I have the whole storyline set and I didn't want to do that because this is supposed to we're supposed to be creating together So I'm a little nervous Oh don't be Because I've never done it this way before Do you know what I mean?

And the end goal is to make it a really powerful piece that reaches everyone And I don't want it to be trivial So don't be afraid to call me out And vice versa Yeah I'll call you out Don't worry about that Okay We're on the same page then Yes.

You want to meet the cast?

Yeah I would love to And this is my cast Turn around girls Hi cast This is Nehemiah Did I say that right?

Yes, this is Obadiah Did I say that right?

Obadiah is the one who came up with the whole concept and idea And he's going to talk to you a little bit about that And Nehemiah is the Juilliard graduate that's a professional dancer that you get to dance with I know they're so excited So anyway we're going to get started a little bit just with a kind of presentation a talk and a get to know each other but I think we're going to move out to the front All right So out on the red carpet my loves if you need socks on your feet put them on your feet This incredible vision that Obadiah has is why we're here today So I'd like him to tell us about it so that we can really be moved when we create So Obadiah If y'all remember something very tragic happened a few months back in 2020 It happened on May 25th when the whole world witnessed a police officer unfortunately take a person by the name of George Floyd's life But for me as an artist I was trying to find out you know what can I do?

And I was walking through New York City one day in Midtown and I came across a mural outside of Steinway piano showroom in Midtown And this is the actual mural that I came across It said, “No one is above or below That's why we all have the same color shadow ” because I was trying to really understand exactly what how can I make someone that did not come from an African-American family or African-American situation sort of relate or connect with the African-American experience.

And then I said well what do we have that is all the same no matter who we are?

And that's our shadow So I'm here today because I need your support I need your help as we sort of put this message around the world of that hey we can change it but the world needs some help we need to help them visually show them exactly how can we bring that together So Nehemiah we're going to be working closely together and we just basically kind of met Hi again everybody I've been working with Obadiah since 2013 I've had a program where I was teaching young artists like yourselves and myself as well During this time I've been getting guidance and talking to different leaders and spiritual guides and authors just about issues that's going on in my community back home in Cleveland Cleveland was really a historical place for a lot of change to happen that we're kind of experiencing today like people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X and basically was getting guidance on how can we continue their legacy And as artists we can kind of make tough pills easier to swallow So what are we going to do with With what we have in our hands?

Justice is the biggest thing out of all of this How can we all be equal?

Well, I think you've chosen the perfect forum the perfect medium of art to tell this because it doesn't matter what color you are you're all black in shadow To me I would think it would be very boring to have one color to paint with And so I love it when I have diverse people walk through my doorway I gotta say I can't wait to see what we produce Yeah I'm excited We'll show you some ideas to just get your mind going on what we can do in shadow Hey shadow But there's a lot of fun stuff you can do to it like show him an octopus girls Good.

I love it.

I love it Can you guys make frogs?

See who can jump the highest I see pumpkins This is like playing for them Yeah, this is amazing It's like the forms There you go There you go.

I see it Alright noses sideways so we can see your bunny faces Okay all right And then cricket show me your cricket you created Is that the cutest thing ever?

Literally She's like, look Miss Lynne I made a cricket You're not stretched but do you want to just kind of do a little bit or?

Yeah, I could do something McKenzie Ashlyn Sage Addy Go right up to him Addy Leah Get smaller everyone Millie go Emily go Tricia Tricia go hug him Leah go right up to him Go articulate everyone articulate Touch him and get his attention Tell him how you feel Nice George Floyd woke us up We took to the streets Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin Ahmaud Arbery, Daunte Wright Breonna Taylor, Freddie Gray Elijah McClain Never forget Around the world Black and white Every color United as one Enough violence Enough murder Eight minutes that changed everything Why?

The senseless killing of my people So I brought you these cupcakes because you're so sweet Well thank you guys for having me here I'm really enjoying your company and like what we're going to do and all of the sweetness that just I feel from Colorado So this is just appreciation And look they have hearts on them too So we came in early today and we spent all day working on kind of a show design and we're going to try to get everything blocked out tonight as much as we can So we decided to pick some scenarios that like what are the biggest reasons for that racial injustice face?

And the first thing we came up with is environment We're going to start with a broken down house which I have some ideas for and then there's gonna be a car that's like up on wheels and he's sleeping in his car because he doesn't have any money Maybe between the opening of the scene he leaves his car and tries to clean himself up and then he goes to interview for a job And then it goes back to that scene He becomes an architect He goes back to this rundown building that was by his car and he transforms it into a community center that's just stunning and beautiful So we've addressed economics, the environment and education issues that need to be changed and reform that needs to be changed in a positive manner Then we're like we had struggled quite a bit with how do we tell the story about the issue with the riots and the police?

And this is where it got really creative I felt because I don't want I don't want to put out something there that says that all police officers are bad because I don't believe that And I hope you dont believe that either I believe that there's really bad and really good But we also need to address the issue because there is racism in the in the police departments all over the United States if not the world, right?

Yeah The police officer walks out and that's the bad police officer and he starts to you know ask them questions and accuse them of being a gang or something And he's going to search them for no reason, you know he's going to stop and search for no reason other than the color of their skin And so he's going to shove them up against the wall and you guys are gonna get mad And actually you probably should run because that's what the other guys would do And then he gets cuffed and taken to jail So does anybody have any ideas off the bat?

You may need to simmer on it just or do you want that you think, yes?

Do a scene where they're like filming with police Ooooohhh That makes it really current So that would be on the hiphoppers piece where he's... Yeah.

And people are doing this with the police officer I was like oh my God how do you spread the word out to make you know the world feel the same thing And that's why the riot happens Connecting Way to go Ashden Eileen Okay Okay, so let's think about props that we need to pull for this We don't necessarily have to pull them right away I think we should block it first but obviously the police uniforms and those are probably buried in the love costumes, right?

All right let me get the screen up Can you guys get the projector on and the Mac up?

Well the Mac's up but I just need the back row And I think what we'll do is we'll learn it in white screen because it's easier on your eyes isn't it?

Huh?

Yeah We'll put it up when we spell the words Oh yeah There's a building over there originally and the buildings then just kinda everything's going to transform into an office building where you actually open a door We'll have a building where you can open the door and come in.

Hey guys Hey guys!

Pull the door from the shelter The one we found the other day Do you know what I'm saying?

Yes Pull the screen door By the way you know this is a true story?

Like I don't know if I actually when I got the job at GE Aviation I actually slept in my car for two weeks Oh wow There's just something really surreal about this entire process of this performance The way it's connecting and the way...I didn't know that I didn't know that And to be able to like honor your story look at you look at what you're doing now I'm just wow It's literally your story Oh my gosh!

Sometimes a story is right in front of us Sometimes we try so hard That we miss it When we grow quiet And listen When we speak truth It will rise between us Like a whisper Growing to a roar A voice so loud We cannot ignore Only when we share each of our truths Will we find a light that guides us Only when we join together will we make change Because we all have The same color shadow We worked tirelessly to bring this story to life We challenged ourselves And pushed further than ever before Every detail Every emotion Every movement And then we were ready To bring the story to the stage To life To reveal to an audience Our truth Their trust Hello everyone Welcome to our theater I am Lynne Waggoner-Patton the founder of The Silhouettes And I'd like to introduce Obadiah Baker president of Cleveland's Tender Heart Crusades.

Obadiah's fantastic vision brought all of us together to create this piece about how black and white can work together to heal the divide Obadiah brought dancer Nehemiah Spencer to Colorado so we could teach him shadow work and get his input on the performance The piece that we did create is very powerful and it has some controversial content in it We're not trying to offend in any way, shape or form We just wanted to tell the story of how we can heal the divide This is something that again we need to do together we have to come together in order to heal these situations And that is the whole purpose of it, to show that that we are all critical When it comes to changing this we are all critical.

So enjoy the show Anything else?

Thank you for coming and now here's The Same Color Shadow Dancers are you set?

Yes Too many have died Too much hate There's still hope for tomorrow But something has to change now Not tomorrow but today Something must be done What we see cannot continue Our ancestors paved the way And now it's up to us We've been given trust to make a change What kind of world will we leave to our children?

If we do nothing If we do nothing The blood of those we lost will be on our hands We must take a stand now I'm talking to you and you and you and the the ones beside you We can all do something I'm talking to you and you and you and the ones around you It's time for you to take your place in this race It's time to run it's time to fly It's time to live with those who died It's time to pray and to believe That we can stand in unity, yeah Things have got to change, yeah We can't just let this happen there's no more time to waste There's no more time to waste no Say it, this is our time it's a call to action, yeah This is our time it's a call to action, yeah This is our time t's a call to action, yeah This is our time it's a call to action, yeah It's a call to action, yeah Someone tell me where would we be?

If it had not been for Those who paved the way so we could be free Freedom's still so far away When bloods still shed and those Who are responsible go free instead What kind of world will we leave to our children if we do nothing if we do nothing All the blood of those we lost will be on our hands We must take a stand now I'm talking to you and you, and you And the ones beside you We can all do something I'm talking to you and you, and you And the ones around you It's time for you to take your place In this race It's time to run it's time to fly It's time to live with those that died It's time to pray to believe That we can stand in unity (yes we can) Things have got to change We can't just let this happen We can't just let this happen Theres no more time to waste There's no more time to waste No no Say it, this is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time It's a call to action, yeah It's a call to action, yeah Here we go, here we go It's time for us to stand up stand up It's time for us to stand up stand up Use your voice and stand up stand up Use your voice and stand up stand up yeah Use your mind and stand up stand up (yes, sir) Use your time and stand up stand up (yes, sir) Every race, stand up, stand up Every religion, stand up stand up Every creed of God stand up, stand up Across borderline stand up, stand up Things have got to change We can't just let this happen We can't just let this happen There's no more time to waste There's no more time to waste no Say it, this is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time It's a call to action, yeah This is our time Its a call to action, yeah It's a call to action, yeah Here we go, here we go It's time for us to stand up stand up It's time for us to stand up stand up Use your voice and stand up stand up Use your voice and stand up stand up yeah Use your mind and stand up stand up (yes, sir) Use your time and stand up stand up (yes, sir) Every race, stand up, stand up Every religion, stand up stand up Every creed of God, stand up stand up Across borderline, stand up stand up Its time for us to stand up stand up It's time for us to stand up Say their names For George Floyd Stand up stand up For Freddie Gray Stand up stand up For Breonna Taylor Stand up stand up for Trayvon Martin Stand up stand up For Sandra Bland Stand up stand up For Tamir Rice Stand up stand up For Mike Brown Stand up stand up For Jordan Davis Stand up stand up For Stephon Clark Stand up stand up For Botham Jean Stand up stand up For Stephon Davis Stand up stand up For Ahmaud Arbery Stand up stand up For Atatiana Jefferson Stand up stand up For Alton Sterling Stand up, stop killing us For Oscar Grant Stand up, stop killing us For Renisha McBride Stand up, stop killing us For Walter Scott Stand up, stop killing us For Anthony Hill Stand up, stop killing us For Eric Garner Stand up, stop killing us For Emmitt Till Stand up, stand up And the countless kings and queens we didn't name It's a shame it's gotta end What we see will change We can't just let this happen.

There's no more time to waste no This is our time It's a call to action One day I woke up Dared to climb a hill The path I followed Led me to a mountaintop To see the other side Saw the promised land As we reach for the sky Some of us will fall And some will fly When we look down No one is above or below We all have the same color shadow This program is made possible by the Cleveland Foundation the worlds first community foundation, whose mission is to enhance the lives of all residents of Greater Cleveland by working together with donors to build community endowment, address needs through grantmaking, and provide leadership on key community issues.