Turn Me Loose - Broadway Play
Broadway, Theatre
John Legend and Get Lifted Film Co. present a new comedic drama about the extraordinary and explosive life of Dick Gregory - starring Scandal's Joe Morton - that shines a light on the first Black comedian to expose white audiences to racial comedy. Gregory confronted bigotry with shockingly disarming humor, marched alongside Martin Luther King, Jr., and deeply influenced comics from Richard Pryor to Chris Rock. He’s been a prolific writer, muckraker, provocateur, candidate for mayor of Chicago and for president of the United States. He was singled out by President Obama as one of his all-time favorite comedians. Experience the comic genius of Dick Gregory and the poetic final words of his mentor, slain civil rights activist, Medgar Evers: "Turn Me Loose."
"I love comedy. My favorite guys are Richard Pryor and Dick Gregory (especially) when he was really on the edge."
- President Obama, wtf with Marc Maron
"Dick was the greatest, and he was the first. Somebody had to break down that door. He was the one."
"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."
"It’s a beautiful piece of work. 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."
"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. 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."
