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| THE GREAT SOCIETY announces Broadway voting initiative, the 'Great Society Primary' | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 05:38 pm EDT 08/27/19 | |
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| THE GREAT SOCIETY ON BROADWAY SUPPORTS VOTING, VOTER RIGHTS & VOTER REGISTRATION IN PARTNERSHIP WITH FAIRVOTE, MOTIVOTE, NYC VOTES & THE NAACP ‘GREAT SOCIETY PRIMARY’ LAUNCHES WITH FOUR VOTING BOOTHS AT THE VIVIAN BEAUMONT THEATER IN CELEBRATION OF LYNDON B. JOHNSON’S 111TH BIRTHDAY Robert Schenkkan (Tony Award & Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright), Joshua Javits (son of the late Senator Jacob K. Javits; arbitrator/mediator), Geoffrey Eric Eaton (President of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch), Eric Friedman (Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs; New York City Campaign Finance Board), Rob Richie (President and CEO, FairVote) and Jess Riegel & Rachel Konowitz (Co-Founders of Motivote), and the cast, creative team and producers of Schenkkan’s new Broadway play THE GREAT SOCIETY announced today a new effort on Broadway to support voter registration and turnout. In celebration of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 111th Birthday, the ‘Great Society Primary’ launched this morning at an event in the lobby of the Vivian Beaumont Theater. Beginning at the first preview performance on Friday, September 6, all attendees of The Great Society will have the opportunity to ‘vote’ for the candidate they would like to see win either the Democratic or Republican 2020 presidential primary in one of four voting booths in the theater lobby. You can also cast your ballot online GreatSocietyBroadway.com; results will be shared following each performance at Twitter.com/GreatSocietyBwy. In his resolution on behalf of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch, Geoffrey Eric Eaton issued “A Call to Action to Encourage All Americans to VOTE.” “We will be launching campaigns to educate, register and mobilize voters to the Polls in 2020 & 2021. The New York State Conference and The Metropolitan Council of New York City Branches (15) will be actively engaged in educating New Yorkers and Communities of Color on the importance of participating in the upcoming Decennial Census. In the Decennial Census in 2010, it is estimated that over 250,000 New York City residents were undercounted, resulting in the loss of billions of dollars in programs and services. This occurred in communities of color, where Blacks and Hispanics did not participate in the census count. Historically undercounted, children under age 5 are again at risk of being undercounted by up to 6.31 percent in the 2020 Census in the high-risk scenario. WE MUST DEFEAT HATE & VOTE – AND WHEN WE FIGHT – WE WIN!” On August 6, 1965, President Johnson signed into law the Voting Rights Act of 1965, landmark federal legislation that prohibits racial discrimination in voting, which took effect during the height of the civil rights movement in the United States. Designed to enforce the voting rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, the Act secured the right to vote for racial minorities throughout the country, especially in the South. The Act is considered to be the most effective piece of federal civil rights legislation ever enacted in the country. Before select performances, representatives from voter registration partners will be available to register new voters in the lobby. ABOUT THE GREAT SOCIETY ON BROADWAY Capturing Johnson’s attempts to build a just society for all, The Great Society follows his triumph in a landslide election to the agonizing decision not to run for re-election just three years later. It was an era that would define history forever: the rise of the Civil Rights Movement, the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, the escalation of the Vietnam War, and the creation of some of the greatest social programs America has ever known—and one man was at the center of it all: LBJ. Emmy Award winner Brian Cox stars as LBJ in Robert Schenkkan’s The Great Society, directed by Bill Rauch. The 19-member cast also stars Grantham Coleman as Martin Luther King Jr., Richard Thomas as Hubert Humphrey, Marc Kudisch as Richard J. Daley, Bryce Pinkham as Senator Robert F. Kennedy, Frank Wood as Senator Everett Dirksen, Gordon Clapp as J. Edgar Hoover, Marchánt Davis as Stokely Carmichael, Brian Dykstra as Adam Walinsky, Barbara Garrick as Ladybird Johnson, David Garrison as Richard Nixon; Ty Jones as Reverend Ralph Abernathy, Christopher Livingston as James Bevel, Angela Pierce as Pat Nixon, Matthew Rauch as Robert McNamara, Nikkole Salter as Coretta Scott King, Tramell Tillman as Bob Moses, and Ted Deasy & Robyn Kerr as Ensemble. The cast of this striking theatrical event features a company of actors portraying more than fifty characters in two-dozen locations, including other such figures as Jimmie Lee Jackson, Reverend Dobynes, Hosea Williams, Marquette Fry, Governor George Wallace, Sherriff Jim Clark, Norman Morrison, General William Westmoreland, Seymore Trammell, Stanley Levison and Sally Childress. The creative team includes David Korins (sets), Linda Cho (costumes), David Weiner (lights), Paul James Prendergast (composer/sound), Victoria Sagady (projections) and Daniel Swee (casting). Performances of The Great Society will begin Friday, September 6, 2019, and open officially on Tuesday, October 1, 2019 at the Vivian Beaumont Theater (150 West 65th St). This is a 12-week limited engagement. TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets to The Great Society are available by calling 800-447-7400, online at GreatSocietyBroadway.com or in person at the Lincoln Center Theater box office. Ticket prices range from $107-157. The Great Society is produced on Broadway by Jeffrey Richards and Louise L. Gund, with Rebecca Gold, Jayne Baron Sherman, and co-producers Stephanie P. McClelland, Jennifer Manocherian/Judith Manocherian, Gabrielle Palitz/Cheryl Wiesenfeld, Mark Pigott KBE, Cynthia Stroum, Jacob Soroken Porter and Lincoln Center Theater. BIOGRAPHIES: GEOFFREY ERIC EATON serves as First Vice President of the NAACP New York State Conference, and President of the NAACP Mid-Manhattan Branch, and one can say he was born into a career in public service. At a young age, Geoffrey made history as one of the first African-Americans to work on the deck of the New York City Circle Line Sight Seeing Yacht, in the positions of Deckhand, Quartermaster, and First Mate. Mr. Eaton previously served as Chief of Staff to legendary United States Congress Member, The Honorable Charles B. Rangel. In this capacity, he oversaw the day-to-day management of the Washington, D.C. and New York offices and was Congressman Rangel's designee to a number of important Boards, including the New York Empowerment Zone, the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone, the Harlem Community Development Corporation, and the West Harlem Development Corporation, Inc. Prior to his work with Congressman Rangel, Geoffrey amassed over 20 years of experience in New York City government, where he served in a variety of positions including deputy public advocate for community affairs for the first elected Public Advocate, Mark Green. Mr. Eaton is a life-long Harlem resident with a distinguished career in public service, whose leadership has played a critical role in advancing the interests and the mission of the NAACP. Geoffrey embodies the spirit of the NAACP and knows what it means to both serve and to lead. Prior to ascending to the Presidency, Mr. Eaton served for ten years as First Vice President, where he oversaw several committees and learned the inner-workings of the organization. Geoffrey Eric Eaton is currently the Director of Community Affairs & Diversity for Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (TouroCOM) & The Touro College of Pharmacy (TCOP). Geoffrey was a founding member of the TouroCOM Harlem Community Advisory Board (CAB), which he serves as Co-Chair. In his role as Director, Geoffrey will continue Touro’s mission and goal of improving the health of the Harlem’s residents, by fostering more community and student engagement participation; and increasing the enrollment of underrepresented minorities into TouroCom’s MedAchieve, Master’s in Biological Science Program, Medical School and School of Pharmacy. Geoffrey will continue his work with the CAB to raise significant funding to its signature Underrepresented Minority (URM) Scholarship Fund program, which to date, raised over $200,000.00 and awarded $75,000.00 to TouroCOM students of color. Geoffrey Eaton continues to volunteer with several civic, cultural, and community organizations, including The Harlem Arts Alliance, Inc. and The City College of New York (CCNY) President’s Executive Advisory Board, to name a few. In recognition of his exemplary record of service, Geoffrey has received a number of unprecedented NAACP National and State Conference awards, including the first ever “Medgar Wiley Evers NAACP New York State Medal of Freedom Award,” and many other community service honors. ABOUT FAIRVOTE FairVote is a nonpartisan champion of electoral reforms that give voters greater choice, a stronger voice, and a representative democracy that works for all Americans. Since 1992 it has been a policy and advocacy trailblazer that advances and wins electoral reforms at the local, state, and national level through strategic research, communications and collaboration. Today we are the driving force behind advancing ranked choice voting and fair representation in multi-winner legislative districts that will open up our elections to better choices, fairer representation and more civil campaigns. Leader of FairVote since 1992, ROB RICHIE (President and CEO) has helped advance, win and implement ranked choice voting in Maine and more than 20 cities, cumulative voting in voting rights cases, and the National Popular Vote plan in states. A co-author of Every Vote Equal and Whose Votes Count, Richie is a frequent media source. His writings have appeared in ten books, several journals and nearly every major daily newspaper. He is a graduate of Haverford College. ABOUT MOTIVOTE Motivote is a digital platform that makes voting fun, easy, and social. There are so many "microbarriers" that get in the way of voting. Missing a deadline, feeling confused, not leaving time in your schedule. With a team-based competition model, Motivote gets would-be voters from intending to vote to actually doing it, with behavioral strategies that are effective in other areas of our life like working out and saving money. On Motivote, any social network becomes a voting team. Participants commit to vote, walk through bite-sized actions that get them more informed and increase their likelihood of voting, and earn points and prizes along the way. Come election day, everyone verifies they vote with a selife for closed-loop accountability. JESS RIEGEL is Co-Founder and CEO of Motivote, a voting accountability platform for Millennials. Jess started her career with Teach for America, leading first-grade classrooms in New Orleans and Newark. As a consultant with Cause Strategy Partners, she advised nonprofits and foundations on board governance. She also led impact evaluation efforts for an ed tech startup, Kinvolved. While earning her MPA in Social Impact, Innovation and Investment from the NYU Wagner School of Public Service, Jess served on the Rockefeller Foundation’s social finance team. Jess holds a B.A. in Urban Studies and Political Economy from the University of Pennsylvania. Co-Founder RACHEL KONOWITZ has over eight years of experience in organizing and advocacy. was inspired to start motivote based on frustrations with the status quo she saw as a student organizer. Though her team would point to seemingly successful metrics, like texts sent and students registered, the data showed that these didn’t affect turnout rates at all. Having managed hundreds of interns and canvassers in her prior roles, Rachel manages our external partnerships and internal operations. She has a BA from Skidmore College and an MPA from NYU. ABOUT NYC VOTES NYC Votes is the nonpartisan voter engagement initiative of the New York City Campaign Finance Board (CFB) and its Voter Assistance Advisory Committee (VAAC). In addition to promoting voter registration, participation, and civic engagement in New York City through its many programs and partnerships, NYC Votes sponsors the city’s official Debate Program and produces the citywide Voter Guide. As Assistant Executive Director for Public Affairs, ERIC FRIEDMAN is responsible for managing the agency’s intergovernmental relations, policy research, and legislative outreach. Through the units that comprise the Public Affairs division (Communications, Public Affairs, Public Relations, and Voter Assistance), he oversees the agency’s print publications and online communications, the NYC Votes voter engagement campaign, and the CFB’s promotional efforts, media relations, and public outreach. Mr. Friedman has served the CFB in a series of roles since 2006, as Policy Analyst, Press Secretary, and Director of External Affairs. Prior to joining the CFB, Mr. Friedman served as Press Secretary for U.S. Representative Christopher Shays (R-CT), a national leader on government ethics and campaign finance reform during his time in Congress. Mr. Friedman also managed communications for Congressman Shays’ re-election campaigns and worked on several campaigns for state and local office. Mr. Friedman began his career as a journalist, reporting on politics and government for a weekly newspaper in southwestern Connecticut. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service at New York University. GreatSocietyBroadway.com |
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