Touring Our National Parks with an Original Script
Since February of this year, Bright Star has been lucky enough to tour the Midwest Region’s National Parks with an original play specially designed to celebrate the National Park Service Centennial and the Black Experience in America’s Heartland. With Lift Every Voice: The Black Experience in the Heartland, you will watch the pages of history come to life with interactive scenes staring many Black Americans who helped make a difference. You will meet famous leaders, groundbreakers, and heroes all while learning about the many great National Parks! “My favorite part about writing this play was all the rich American history that lay within the Midwest that I got to uncover with my research. The National Park Service was definitely our greatest resource. I got the pleasure of learning about amazing Americans like Col. Charles Young and Bass Reeves for the first time, but I also got to brush up on my knowledge of people like George Washington Carver and the Little Rock Nine. It’s so important to realize where we are now as Americans thanks to these brave groundbreakers!” says lead writer David Ostergaard.
We have performed at parks from Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site in Arkansas to Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota, from the Homestead National Monument in Nebraska to Brown V. Board of Education National Historic Site in Kansas.
This week is a very exciting week because Bright Star is performing for the Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument in Ohio and later we will be traveling to River Raisin National Battlefield Park and Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan and Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore in Indiana. With the Centennial quickly approaching on August 25, 2016, Bright Star will be visiting the Midwest’s National Parks 24 times, sharing these amazing stories and important history with thousands of audience members!
Watch our Lift Every Voice video clip!
