Off-Broadway's Public Theater will hold a "The People's Filibuster" protest event in support of and solidarity for the people of Minnesota January 31. The event will be held on the steps of the company's flagship downtown building at 425 Lafayette Street from 11 AM to 7 PM ET, with the event also streaming live.
The event will collect artists, elected officials, and community leaders to read "seminal, primary source texts from the founding of our nation," along with other pieces "that articulate our shared ideals and democratic aspirations," according to press notes.
Those already set to participate include Lin-Manuel Miranda, Luis A. Miranda Jr., Dr. Luz Towns-Miranda, Constance Wu, John Leguizamo, Micaela Diamond, Quiara Alegría Hudes, F. Murray Abraham, Laura Benanti, Michael Cerveris, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Annaleigh Ashford, Joe Tapper, Jessica Hecht, Celia Keenan-Bolger, John Ellison Conlee, Leigh Silverman, Mona Mansour, Jose Llana, Rebecca Martinez, Robert O’Hara, Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen, and more.
The event comes amidst a controversial and dramatic expansion of so-called immigration enforcement by the federal agency ICE, which has descended upon Minnesota and other U.S. cities. The people of Minnesota have protested in response to what many characterize as unconstitutional and flatly illegal conduct, including the killing of at least two U.S. citizens. In both cases, government and ICE officials are claiming that officers were acting in self defense, though those reports have not been corroborated by video recordings of the events.
“We stand in solidarity with our neighbors in Minnesota and across the country who are angry and grieving, protesting state-sanctioned violence and abuses of power, and organizing for the safety, dignity, and human rights of all," reads a statement from Public Theater leadership. "In this moment of crisis, our intention is to create a collective interruption that invites reflection, accountability, and recommitment to the values we claim as a nation, protesting and contrasting the abhorrent violence and abuses we are witnessing all around us."
The event will be free and open to the public. More information is at ThePublic.NYC.
