August 16, 2020 on YouTube
Brotherhood/Sisterhood was a performance about humanity, equity and social justice. The premise of this dramatic work was about the challenges we face today on the struggle for inclusion and acceptance.
Select readings and speeches from renowned authors, poets and politicians read by distinguished actors, essayists, poets and politicians. The music of Johann Sebastian Bach accompanied these works during and in between readings.
- Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg read a short passage of her work on discrimination.
- Amanda Gorman, the Youth Poet Laureate of the US, read a work by Toni Morrison and an original piece. See full reading of Fury and Faith
- Senator Angus King read The Gettysburg Address by Abraham Lincoln.
- Actor Norm Lewis, Tony-Award nominated lead of Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, Chicago, more read a passage by Frederick Douglass.
- Poet/Essayist Richard Blanco read his poem, One Today, which he read at President Obama’s second inauguration. See full reading of One Today
- Drama Desk-winning actor Bruce Sabath read a Shakespearean passage excerpted from The Merchant of Venice.
- Rabbi Gary Berenson, Synagogue Etz Chaim, read a short Biblical passage.
- Performer/Actor Anwar Robinson, star of American Idol, Rent, Godspell read works by Martin Luther King and John Lewis.
- Actors from Portland Stage Company and several independent actors read the works of John Steinbeck, Elisabeth Barrett Brown, Aristotle, Mark Twain, Mahatma Gandhi.
Brotherhood/Sisterhood is based on a performance 30 years ago in Austria that was hauntingly brilliant. It was based on the writings of a Jewish author, who was killed during World War II, after joining the French Underground. This performance encompassed 20 of Austria’s most-recognized actors and actresses reading his work. Our version was based on a need for greater humanity, equity and social justice. Celebrated authors, poets, politicians and people, who feel and think deeply, just as Bach did, are participating.