(MONTCLAIR, NJ) -- Vanguard Theater Company will present "Sing For Our Lives,” a concert at the First Congregational Church in Montclair on May 12 at 8:00pm to benefit Mother’s Demand Action and Everytown for Gun Safety. Scheduled on Mother’s Day Eve, the event will focus on stories, songs and spoken word about creation, life, love and loss, and draw attention to gun violence across communities.
Co-sponsored by Mom’s Demand Action, Students Demand Action, and Everytown for Gun Safety, “Sing For Our Lives” seeks to bring Montclair and surrounding communities together with diverse performances from Broadway artists, area schools, and Montclair, South Orange and neighboring communities.
Elisa Van Duyne, director of “Sing for Our Lives” for Vanguard Theater Company, is a professional performer, choreographer and arts educator with a passion for music, dance and theater. She felt called to organize this event after the February shooting in Parkland. She and Jessica Sporn, Vanguard Theater Company Managing Director, happened to be at the same Moms Demand Action meeting in March at the FCC. Says Van Duyne: “I had been working with Vanguard on an event for Women’s History Month in conjunction with Seton Hall University. That event was postponed for logistical reasons. When I saw Jessica at the MDA meeting, we had the same idea -- let’s do a fundraiser for MDA using some of the material we had been working on, add other appropriate material, and involve some of the student groups that were so active in March for Our Lives, Newark.”
Once Vanguard connected with Moms Demand Action, the event came together quickly. In addition to professional performers from the Broadway community plus talented student performers from Montclair and nearby schools singing songs of motherhood, creation, life and loss, the evening will feature choral performances from Cicely Tyson School of the Arts and Wayne Valley High School. Elijah Brown (Rutgers University Newark) and Princess Sabaroche (NorthStar Academy Newark), who moved the crowds at the March for Our Lives, Newark, Rally, will speak, and the evening will be interspersed with scenes and monologues from the play collection Code Red, directed and presented by members of Vanguard Theater Company’s Junior Board.
“The event will be a celebration of creation, life and love, while raising money and awareness to combat gun violence,” says Sporn. “It will be appropriate for all ages, and we hope people will leave feeling inspired and empowered.” Vanguard will donate proceeds from the event to Everytown for Gun Safety, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, Essex County, to aid the fight for sensible gun regulations and prevent further gun violence.
Tickets are available at vanguardtheatercompany.org: Students: $5 online/$10 at the door; Adults: $15 online/$20 at the door. Join Vanguard Theater Company for an inspirational night of performances to combat gun violence.
First Congregational Church is located at 40 S. Fullerton Avenue in Montclair, New Jersey.
Vanguard Theater Company is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit producing original, collaborative and re-imagined works of theater. Dedicated to D.R.E.A.M. - Diversity, Reciprocity, Education, Awareness and Mentorship - Vanguard is committed to imaginative, non-traditional, multi-cultural casting, and professional artistic mentorship. Vanguard Theater Company's year-round programming is made possible through generous support from TeeRico by Lin-Manuel Miranda; The New York Community Trust; Seton Hall University; Investors Bank; collaborations with Montclair Film, and the generosity of many individual donors.