TRUMPET OF FREEDOM: THE SAGA OF JOHN BROWN
          A one-person drama
       

KANSAS HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESENTS JOHN BROWN: TRUMPET OF FREEDOM Event is part of Countdown to Statehood program ______________________________________   TOPEKA, KS—The Kansas Historical Society announced that veteran stage and screen actor Norman Thomas Marshall will present his one-man drama, John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom at the Kansas Historical Society at 3 p.m. Sunday, April 27, 2008. The performance is part of the Historical Society’s Countdown to Statehood program, a series of programs celebrating the sesquicentennial of Kansas statehood in 2011. Admission is free and open to the public. Speaking prior to the performance are writer, producer, director, and KU film professor Kevin Wilmott and Jim DeGood, director of marketing for the Lyric Opera of Kansas City. The Lyric will present the world premiere of the opera John Brown May 3-11. Guests at the Historical Society event may enter a drawing for tickets to the opera. Author Jonathan Earle will also be at the event, signing copies of his book, John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry. Copies of the book will be available for purchase the day of the event. In John Brown: Trumpet of Freedom, Marshall portrays the legendary Abolitionist and 30 other Civil War characters. On the morning of his hanging, John Brown writes a farewell letter to his Abolitionist compatriots. In the letter, he registers his outrage and horror at his first seeing an African Slave, starved, naked, and chained to a post, beaten with an iron shovel for the offense of stealing a crumb of food. In the passion of that moment, he vows to God to rectify the injustice, and wage war against the government that sanctions this abomination. He further ruminates on his guerilla actions against the pro-slavery militias in Kansas and his attack on Harpers Ferry with his ragged "army" of 19 men. The play looks deeply into the conscience of a man who commits violent acts against those whom he deems to be guilty of grave sins against God's Law. It reiterates in powerful, graphic detail the age-old question, "Does the means justify the end? " This event will take place at the Kansas Historical Society, 6425 SW 6th Avenue. For more information, visit kshs.org or call 785-272-8681. The Kansas Historical Society does not discriminate on the basis of disability in admission to, access to, or operation of its programs. The Historical Society requests prior notification to accommodate individuals with special needs or disabilities.     JOHN BROWN: Trumpet of Freedom Is a one-man drama  portraying the legendary Abolitionist and 30 other Civil War period characters.  It employs an historically accurate narrative, relying largely on John Brown's own words.  Appropriate for adults and young people 13 and older.   Norman Marshall has participated in over three hundred productions of plays, films, television and radio programs mainly in New York and Hollywood. He has shared the stage and screen with such notable actors as Moses Gunn, Raul Julia, F. Murray Abraham, Burt Reynolds and Barbara Streisand. Mr. Marshall was the founder, and for ten years the Artistic Director, of Merry Enterprises Theatre Inc. in New York.   David S. Reynolds is Distinguished Professor of English and American Studies at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.  He is the author of John Brown, Abolitionist: The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights, winner of the Gustavus Myers Outstanding Book Award.   This special performance is part of a series of programs related to the Historical Society of Princeton’s current exhibition, Princeton’s Civil War, on view until July 15. Museum Galleries and Shop at 158 Nassau Street, Princeton, open Tuesday-Sunday, 12-4pm.   Norman Thomas Marshall the portrayer of John Brown (203) 453-2036 www.wbworks.com/johnbrown

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