Pollyanna Theatre, resident theatre company of the Long Center, is remounting their highly acclaimed production for children and families about Civil Rights, Liberty! Equality! And Fireworks! by Gregory S. Perrin. The performance is free to the public on Saturday, February 18th at 2:00 pm at the LBJ Library Auditorium, located at 2313 Red River Street. The play is best suited for children ages eight and up, and their families. This production is co-sponsored by the Education Department of the LBJ Presidential Library and Museum and The University of Texas at Austin Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.

This powerful play follows the fieldtrip adventures of a group of 4th grade students who are visiting a history museum but are surprised by what happens when people from iconic images come to life and tell them their personal stories. These characters entertain and enlighten; taking the next generation of theatregoers on a fascinating journey through the history of the Civil Rights Movement.

Liberty! Equality! And Fireworks! was written as a commission by award-winning playwright Gregory Perrin for Pollyanna Theatre Company. Perrin, a successful Texas playwright, studied with three-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward Albee, has received five different commissions to write plays for family audiences and was the inaugural playwright commissioned by Theater LaB Houston for the Fiesta First Ward Children’s Theater Project.

“History is important, but many of our children feel that it is boring because it has nothing to do with them. My goal is that the children seeing this play will leave with questions about what they have seen, which hopefully will lead to conversations with parents, grandparents, teachers and friends. These conversations – though difficult or unpleasant – need to happen,” says Perrin.