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THURGOOD MARSHALL'S COMING!

PROGRAM SCHEDULE –
10:00 - 10:55 p.m. MDT ACT I: Scene 1: The Making of a Lawyer in the Era of Jim Crow
ACT I, Scene 2: Reflections on Brown v. Board of Education
(55 Minutes)
10:55 - 11:05 p.m. MDT INTERMISSION
11:05 - 11:55 p.m. MDT ACT II, Scene 1: In the Wake of Brown (50 Minutes)
ACT II, Scene 2: Reflections on the Judiciary and the Constitution
(50 Minutes)
11:55 - 12:00 p.m. MDT STRETCH BREAK
12:00 - 1:15 p.m. MDT Panel Discussion and Online Chat Room Discussion (75 Minutes)
1:15 p.m. MDT Adjourn

Featuring T. Mychael Rambo as Justice Thurgood Marshall
Winner of the ABA 2005 Silver Gavel Honorable Mention Award in Theatre!

He wanted JUSTICE and EQUALITY Under the Law. Was that too much to ask?

Thurgood Marshall is one of the giant figures in the history of American jurisprudence. As the passionate and embattled civil rights lawyer who acted as the lead attorney for the plaintiffs in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, KS, he helped win the U.S. Supreme Court decision to legally end racial segregation in the public schools in the United States. He was the first African American to serve as Solicitor General of the United States and became the first African American to serve as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The movie portrays Marshall as an old man as he ruminates and relives past trials and victories and uses Marshall's mastery of language, storytelling and imitation to create a powerful presentation. He is direct without being too rude and he "tells it like it is" without prevarication. His sense of humor and equanimity counteract some of the bitterness he felt in his long journey. His legal arguments and masterful rhetorical style are at once evocative and entertaining. Using Marshall's own writings and reflections, the play explores racism and civil rights and provides an engaging tool to facilitate discussion about these issues, not only in the legal profession, but in society at large.

CLE CREDITS: 3 Hours in Ethics/Professionalism, or General Credit

PRODUCER AND PRESENTER INFORMATION

PERIAKTOS PRODUCTIONS, L.L.C. was formed in 1994 with the mission of helping lawyers to become better lawyers by producing professional theatre performances and movies that provide unique, entertaining and engaging CLE programs about ethics and professionalism. Our name is derived from "periaktoid," a three-sided scenic unit used in the ancient Greek theatre … that suggests our three primary goals. First and foremost, we want to entertain, which literally means, "to hold between." Only by engaging attendees can a "classroom" activity move from a passive experience to one in which true learning occurs. Secondly, we strive to educate our audiences, which, in the classical sense means "to draw out." We want to evoke ideas and responses to the issues and situations we present and facilitate dialogue about them - not instruct or indoctrinate audiences with our own opinions. Lastly, we hope to enlighten our audiences, which means to "reveal truths." In the broader sense this means helping attendees to acquire new wisdom and/or understanding of situations to help them see options more clearly. Playwright Sidney Michaels wrote, "In the dark of the theatre we remember ourselves." Things are not always what they appear to be and the theatre is a wonderful way to lend a bit of insight and look at what's below the surface. In the end we hope that our programs provide an opportunity for lawyers to learn about themselves and explore their own ethical foundations by looking at the lives of others. T. MYCHAEL RAMBO, who portrays Thurgood Marshall, is an accomplished actor, vocalist, and educator. The recent recipient of a 2008 Regional Emmy Award, T. Mychael has made his mark nationally and abroad. Mr. Rambo has performed with numerous regional theatre companies, Carnegie Hall with the Minnesota Orchestra, as a member of national touring companies and throughout Europe, Africa, and South America. A resident of St. Paul, Minnesota; he has performed locally at the Guthrie Theatre, Penumbra Theatre, Mixed Blood and Illusion Theatre to name but a few. As a solo-performer his role in Thurgood Marshall's Coming! was awarded the 2005 ABA Silver Gavel Honorable Mention Award in Theatre. He has also received critical acclaim for other solo performances, most notably for his role as Martin Luther King Jr. in the Mixed Blood Theatre production of “Dr. Kings Dream.” Now his most cherished performance moment proves to be the recent honor bestowed upon him, where he met President Obama and sang the National Anthem during the President's 2009 Health Rally Tour to the Twin Cities.

As an actor, Mr. Rambo's film credits include Mighty Ducks, Crossing the Bridge, Grumpy Old Men, The Cure, Equinox, The Wooly Boys and a most recent independent feature film, Justice, which was nominated for a NAACP Image Award. He has appeared in local and national television commercials and programs, including the HBO mini-series "Laurel Avenue," the TV pilot "Endeavor" and the NBC movie of the week She Led Two Lives. As a vocal recording artist, Mr. Rambo has released two CDs, “Simply” (a collection of jazz standards) and "The Gift: A Christmas With Love” (a selection of original and holiday classics.) He is currently in the process of creating a third recording, “Chasing the Sun," songs of inspiration, spirit and healing.

Mr. Rambo is an Affiliate Professor in the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance at the University of Minnesota. He is an artist in residence for the Minnesota State Arts Board and serves as artist in residence for several programs in St. Paul and Minneapolis, MN, teaching classes and workshops

in improvisation, creative dramatics, theatre, voice and creative writing to students of all ages. His many honors and awards include the 2001 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Fellowship and a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Theatre Artists in 1999. He received the 2006 and 2007 Century Council Community Award from his peers at the University of Minnesota for his efforts to engage the community through artistic collaboration. He and his teaching colleague, Anita Ruth, received the 2006 Young Audience Artist of the Year Award.

He is a dedicated community volunteer and works closely with many groups, including the African American AIDS Project, African American Family Services, Peace House Foundation, Arm in Arm in Africa and the Urban League. One of his great-aunt's favorite sayings was "Service is the rent due for living on this planet." Mr. Rambo, who views himself a "citizen of the planet," has spent a great deal of his professional life giving back as an arts activist and community organizer - seeking and engaging social change through the mediums of theatre, performance art, spoken word and song. He firmly believes that we are all powerful agents of change. Each of us through our creativity, personal efforts and life force has the power to be and create the change we want to see in the world.

GRAHAM THATCHER is the Artistic Director as well as a primary performer and writer for Periaktos Productions. Since appearing in his first acting role at five years of age, Graham has performed in or directed over 150 community, university and professional theatre productions. He is the co-author and solo performer in Clarence Darrow: Crimes, Causes and the Courtroom, Maxims, Monarchy and Sir Thomas More and Impeach Justice Douglas!, the live CLE Theatre programs and CLE movies of the same titles presented by Periaktos Productions. He is the co-author and director of Thurgood Marshall’s Coming!, also from Periaktos Productions. Graham has authored several other plays, including A Dickens Christmas and The Mask of the Jaguar, about the cultural clash between the Maya and Europeans during the Spanish Conquest, and works on commission.

Graham also serves as a workshop facilitator and consultant in communications and is the creator and facilitator of the Continuing Legal Education programs, “Word of Mouth: A Workshop in the Art and Ethics of Oral Communication for Lawyers” and “The Art of the Law: A Workshop in Professionalism for Lawyers,” for law schools and legal associations. He holds a B.A. from San Francisco State University, an M.A. in Theatre from the University of South Dakota and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Minnesota. He has been listed in Who's Who in American Education and Outstanding American Educators and is a recipient of the Governor's Award from the Minnesota Council on Quality.

ANNA MARIE THATCHER is the Managing Producer for Periaktos Productions and is the producer of all of their CLE Theatre programs and movies. She is an attorney and has worked for thirty years with artists and visual and performing arts organizations as an arts consultant, producer and director. She is the co-author, producer and director of Clarence Darrow: Crimes, Causes and the Courtroom, Maxims, Monarchy and Sir Thomas More and Impeach Justice Douglas!, the live CLE Theatre programs and CLE movies of the same titles presented by Periaktos Productions. She is the co-author of their live production and movie version of Thurgood Marshall’s Coming!

Anna Marie is a licensed member of the Minnesota Bar and continues to work with artists and nonprofit arts organizations. She holds a B.A. from Dakota Wesleyan University (Mitchell, SD), and M.A. in Theatre from the University of South Dakota, and a J.D. from Hamline University School of Law (St. Paul, Minnesota). She is a member of the Minnesota Bar Association and ACLEA (Association of Continuing Legal Education) and is listed in Who's Who in American Law. Anna Marie also serves as volunteer for the First People's Fund, which provides support for Native American artists and as President of the Black Hills Playhouse Alumni Association.

Graham and Anna Marie's production of Thurgood Marshall's Coming! received the American Bar Association's 2005 Silver Gavel Honorable Mention Award in Theatre. They make their home in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

DISCUSSION PANELISTS

STEPHEN B. BRIGHT is president and senior counsel of the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta and is a Visiting Professor of Law at Yale Law School, teaching Advanced Criminal Procedure:

Race and Poverty and a Death Penalty Litigation Seminar. Subjects of his litigation, teaching and writings include capital punishment, legal representation of poor people accused of crimes, racial 4 discrimination in the criminal justice system, conditions and practices in prisons and jails, and judicial independence. The work of the Center and Bright has been the subject of a documentary film, Finding for Life in the Death Belt, (EM Productions 2005), and two books, Proximity to Death by William McFeely (Norton 1999) and Finding Life on Death Row by Kayta Lezin (Northeastern University Press 1999).

Mr. Bright holds a B.A. and J.D., from the University of Kentucky. He received the American Bar Association's Thurgood Marshall Award in 1998. When he is not in the air, the classroom or in court, you can find him at home in Danville, KY.

REVEREND DAVID T. LINK is a lawyer, educator, dean, and now a Catholic priest who ministers to inmates at the Indiana State Prison. Reverend Link graduated from Notre Dame Law School in 1961 and became a senior partner at Winston & Strawn in Chicago. He took a leave of absence in 1970 to return to the University of Notre Dame, where he had also received his J.D. He became the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law in 1975. He was the Dean at the University of Notre Dame Law School for over 24 years and at the time he took emeritus status, he was the longest serving law dean in the nation. He served as the President/Vice Chancellor Emeritus of the University of Notre Dame Australia and earned three honorary doctorate degrees from other universities. He simultaneously served as the founding Deputy Vice Chancellor and Provost of St. Augustine [University] College of South Africa and was also the founding Dean of the Law School and the Associate Vice-President for Academic Affairs at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served as the chair and director of the World Law Institute, as a director of the Miracle of Nazareth International Foundation, as a director of the Future of Russia Foundation, on the advisory board of the Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars and on numerous other professional, charitable, civic, and educational boards. He was a co-founder of the South Bend Center for the Homeless.

Upon his retirement from Notre Dame, David Link served as President and CEO of the International Centre for Healing and the Law in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He lost his beloved wife, Barbara, to cancer after a marriage of forty-five years that produced five children and thirteen grandchildren.

When he retired from the International Centre in 2006, he heard the call to priesthood through his work at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City. He pursued yet another vocation, this time as a Catholic priest, and was ordained in 2008. At the Indiana State Prison, he currently serves as Chaplain and Deputy Director of Religious and Community Activity for the Indiana State Department of Corrections, a natural extension of his prior work in the area of reconciliation and social justice through the Dismas Ministry and the International Centre for Healing and the Law.

Reverend Link continues to be a noted teacher, scholar, and lecturer in the fields of applied ethics, professional responsibility, professionalism, law practice, and legal education. Among numerous honors, he was awarded the Young Federal Lawyer and the Secretary of the Treasury Awards for outstanding service to the United States during the Kennedy Administration. He was selected to receive the American Inns of Court's 2009 Professionalism Award for the Seventh Circuit. In nominating Dean Link, Reverend Theodore Hesburgh, President Emeritus of Notre Dame, said "Father Link has served as an example of professionalism throughout his life."

PRINCE ALTEE THOMAS practices with Fox Rothschild, LLP, of Philadelphia, PA in the areas of debtor and creditor rights, bankruptcy, federal, state and local tax compliance, student loan lending and guarantees, and civil and commercial litigation. He has served the Pennsylvania Bar Institute as a Course Planner and Moderator for numerous CLE programs and writes and lectures frequently on these areas of the law. He formerly supervised the Eastern regional Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Financial Enforcement Section, where he served as the lead attorney in enforcing claims of various state agencies in state and federal courts against debtors for breach of state contracts or nonpayment of state taxes. Mr. Thomas is admitted to practice before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, the U.S. District Courts of Appeal for the Eastern and Middle Districts of Pennsylvania, the U.S. Courts of Appeal for the 5 Third and Fourth Circuits and the U.S. Supreme Court. He is a member of the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and American Bar Associations, the American Bankruptcy Institute, the Barristers Association of Philadelphia and the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bankruptcy Conference. He is a recipient of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute's 2007 Special Achievement Award for his work in planning the Minority Bar Committee's First Annual Diversity Summit. He is a member of the board of the Consumer Bankruptcy

Assistance Project and provides pro bono legal services to the organization, which offers bankruptcy counseling to indigent clients. Mr. Thomas holds a B.A. from Berea College in Kentucky and an M.A. and J.D. from Temple University.

TABLE OF CONTENTS OF COURSE MATERIALS

I. Producer's Note on Drama and the Law ………………………...….. Anna Marie Thatcher, J.D.

Director and Producer

II. Prologue …………………………………...………………….….……… Justice Thurgood Marshall

III. A Note on Thurgood Marshall, Scene Settings and Music Credits

IV. Brief Biography of Thurgood Marshall

V. An Overview of the Movie

VI. An Overview of the Scenes and Issues Raised in the Movie With Questions for Discussion

A. The Making of a Lawyer

B. Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka, KS

C. In the Wake of Brown

D. Reflections on the Judiciary and the Constitution

VI. Resources and Appendix Materials

A. Bibliographies

B. Articles

C. Websites

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