Speaker Series: The Scottsboro Boys (produced by Catherine Schreiber SC '75)

Following a sold-out run at the Young Vic, we are excited to be part of The Scottsboro Boys much-anticipated transfer to the Garrick Theatre in the West End. Winner of the Critics Circle Best Musical Award 2013 and nominated for six Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, this is also the final collaboration between legendary composing duo Kander and Ebb (Chicago, Cabaret), and is directed and choreographed by five-time Tony Award-winner Susan Stroman (The Producers). Both powerful and entertaining, this exhilarating and bold new musical is appropriate for the whole family (ages 12+, as well as some 10-&11-year-olds). Join us for an unforgettable evening.

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About the Show: The Scottsboro Boys is the true story of nine innocent black youths whose lives were destroyed by a the single-line lie of two white women in the racist American south of 1931. The Scottsboro Boys trials continued for five years, sparked the Civil Rights movement in the United States and led to two pivotal Supreme Court rulings, including the right to a Fair Trial and the inability to exclude blacks from the jury. Rosa Parks met her husband supporting the Scottsboro boys. But the show is not just about history undefined the events continue to be of political importance: this past April, The Scottsboro Boys Act was passed, exonerating the Scottsboro boys and in November the last three boys were pardoned. Although a musical and hugely entertaining, The Scottsboro Boys will change the way you think about your world and about yourself.

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About the Producer: Proud winner of the London Critics' Circle Award and Olivier Award Nominee for The Scottsboro Boys at the Young Vic, Catherine Schreiber (SC ’75) is a Tony-winning producer for Clybourne Park. Her Tony Award nominations include Peter and the Starcatcher (2012), The Scottsboro Boys (2011) and Next Fall (2010). Other recent productions: The King’s Speech (UK), El Chico de Oz (Peru) and Stick Fly (Broadway). Off Broadway she produced Desperate Writers, a play she co-wrote. Honoured for her work with the Scottsboro Boys Museum, she received the Key to the City of Scottsboro and spoke at the signing of the Scottsboro Boys Act, 2013. A contributing writer to The Huffington Post, Catherine graduated BA '75 English with Honors, Magna Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale College (Saybrook) and is also a film/television writer and actress. She is married to Miles N. Ruthberg (Yale '73, Harvard Law), senior partner at Latham & Watkins. They have two children, Stephanie 26 and Jeremy 23.

N.B. For those who are keen to do their research, Ellen Feldman has written Scottsboro, a short novel about the events, and apparently quite an easy read.