(UNION, NJ) -- Broadway’s Rema Webb will star as Fannie Lou Hamer and Kena Anae has been cast as Music Man in Premiere Stages production of Cheryl L. West’s Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It!. The outdoor production, directed by Marshall Jones III will take place at the outdoor tent at Liberty Hall Museum at Kean University in Union, New Jersey, October 15-18, 2020.

Part battle cry, part spiritual, Fannie Lou Hamer, Speak On It! is a powerful and timely play, with arrangements by Felton Offard, that brings to life civil rights activist Fannie Lou as she leads a rally to fight for voting and racial equality. Her call to action was one that all Americans committed to change needed to hear in the sixties and still resonates today.

Rema Webb made her Broadway debut in the 1998 production of Ragtime, and most recently she returned to Disney’s The Lion King, where she has been a cast member since 1999. Ms. Webb was featured as gospel singer Lula Buffington in Violet at the Roundabout Theatre Company and at the Tony Awards in 2014. She is an original cast member of Broadway’s The Book of Mormon. She appeared in NBC’s The Sound of Music Live, and her film credits include The Oksana Baiul Story, Sudden Death, Beloved, and First Born. She is the founder and executive director of On Broadway Performing Arts Training Program.

Kena Anae is an actor and musician whose credits include The Total Bent at The Public Theater.  Regionally, he has performed in To Kill a Mockingbird at Virginia Public Theatre and Arts Center of Coastal Carolina.  An alum of NYU’s Cap 21 Conservatory, Mr. Anae was also the recipient of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Audience Award.  His TV appearances include Broad City on Comedy Central and The View on ABC.

Fannie Lou Hamer: Speak On It! runs October 15-18 at the outdoor tent at Liberty Hall Museum on the Kean University campus in Union, N.J. The show runs 60 minutes without an intermission. Performances take place Thursday and Friday at 7:00 pm, Saturday at 3:00 pm and 6:00 pm, and Sunday at 3:00 pm. All tickets are $20 standard. Tickets are limited to 70 seats per performance. There is a ticket limit of four (4) tickets per transaction and addresses for all attendees is required at the time of purchase. All tickets must be purchased in advance, no tickets will be sold at the door. Ticket holders will be required to wear masks throughout the production. All guests will have their temperature checked inside their cars upon arrival. All seats will be arranged with social distancing guidelines in place. Only patrons who travel together will be able to sit together. 

Premiere Stages and the Liberty Hall Museum will offer supplemental activities, including exhibits and Q & A’s as part of the experience. To learn more and to purchase tickets, please visit Premiere Stages online. Assistive listening devices and sign-interpretation are available upon request; please call 908-737-4077 at least two weeks prior to your desired performance.  

 Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Northfield Bank Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, Investors Foundation, The Union County HEART Grant, Actors’ Equity Foundation, and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit www.jerseyarts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.

 Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, religious groups, gender identities, ages, abilities, disabilities and sexual preferences. 

Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus. 

Founded in 1855, Kean University is one of the largest metropolitan institutions of higher education in the region, with a richly diverse student, faculty and staff population. Kean continues to play a key role in the training of teachers and is a hub of educational, technological and cultural enrichment serving more than 16,000 students. The University’s six undergraduate colleges offer more than 50 undergraduate degrees over a full range of academic subjects. The Nathan Weiss Graduate College offers six doctoral degree programs and more than 80 options for graduate study leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications. With campuses in Union, Toms River, Jefferson and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, Kean University furthers its mission by providing an affordable and accessible world-class education.