to Jabari Dreams of Freedom

Yesterday I saw a play called "Jabari Dreams of Freedom" by Nambi E. Kelly.  I went with mommy. I saw it at the Chicago Children's Theatre at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts. It was directed by Lili-Anne Brown with music direction by Jaret Landon.

The play was about a young boy named Jabari (played by Phillip Cusic) who didn't want to go out the door because somebody almost killed his friend Emmett (Patrick Agada).  So Jabari was scared and he stayed at home and was dreaming a lot. He dreamed about dinosaurs (Matt Keffer), lions (Emily Glick), storm troopers, Barack Obama (Gavin Lawrence) sleeping under his bed, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges (Leslie Ann Sheppard)  and Martin Luther King Jr.

First he met Barack Obama who took him to a bus to go for a ride next to Claudette Colvin. Claudette is an African American girl who was the first person to not give up her seat for a white person and she got arrested.  Jabari became friends with her on the bus and he watched her say "I'm not going to give up my seat because my legs are tired from standing and walking" and then the bus driver picked her up and took her to jail. Then Barack Obama took Jabari to meet Ruby Bridges who is just a little older than me, she is 6 years old, and she is a precious jewel who brings people together. She and Jabari drew a half of a dandelion together before she was the first young African American child to go to an all-white school. Then he met two kids who were making signs to walk out of school to protest segregation, which is a new word I learned today that means separating people from other people like black people and white people. Then Jabari watched a video of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and then he met Barack Obama as 7 year old kid. And then Jabari and Barack Obama played catch and Obama talked about how he wants to take MLK Jr's place if anything happens to him. And he said "Yes We Can!" And Jabari was like "Can he do it?" and then Barack Obama said "Yes We Can!"  and he said "I like that!"

The show was really cool I really l liked the lights around the door that glowed red (designed by Nick Belley) and the projections of the houses and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr (designed by Michael Stanfill).  The set was so cool it was designed by William Boles who also designed Hotel Cassiopeia, isn't that crazy? The set was like a tall wall and a fence and above that was a cloud and some houses. There was a really big glowing door and an old fashioned tv where a silly guy said "blah blah blah blah blobby pop." I really loved all of the singing and music in the play and the really cool sounds of the dinosaurs and lions and the Nae Nae song designed by Victoria Deiorio.

My favorite part was when Barack Obama was screaming. Gavin Lawrence was really really good at sounding and acting like Barack Obama, that was so cool.

I'm sad that I can't tell everyone in the whole wide world that they should go see it because we saw the last show. But I hope other theatres will choose to do this play, like maybe Stages and the Children's Theatre Company of Minneapolis or Filament should do this show because I really really really really loved it and learned a lot!

I GIVE THIS PLAY 12 POINTS BECAUSE I LOVED IT THE BEST!!

Love,
Gunnar