(Seguin) — The ticket deadline is rapidly approaching for this year’s Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Banquet. The banquet is the only paid event in this year’s five-day MLK celebration in Seguin. The events are all hosted by the Seguin MLK Day Planning Committee, and the banquet is said to feature a night of great food and entertainment.
MLK Committee member Herman Lampkin says they are excited about Saturday night’s lineup.
“We’re going to start out with the social event. As they come in, they kind of mingle with the people that you know and even some that you don’t know,” said Lampkin. “Then after that, 1838 (Grill) is going to be serving the food, and we’re going to eat. After we get everybody seated, then we will have a play (performed) by the Divas of Eastwood.”
The performance by the Divas of Eastwood will be more than just a theatrical production. The group, from San Antonio, has been performing for years now — offering a blend of theater, music and poetry. Divas of Eastwood Co-Founder Danielle King says their first show started with a salute to a big part of the African-American arts scene, which existed prior to the wide availability of performance spaces to black performers.
“The Divas of Eastwood was formed when the Renaissance Guild, which was San Antonio’s premiere black theater company at the time, did a production about the Chitlin’ Circuit and music in the San Antonio area. So, in San Antonio during the Chitlin’ Circuit time, one of few clubs that was here, was called the Eastwood Country Club on the east side of San Antonio. So, we did a performance called the Divas of Eastwood, and it was talking about the performers that came through this club — all of the wonderful performers and everything. We celebrated the Chitlin’ Circuit and we did that show and we sang music. We we believe in ‘edutainment.’ We’re going to perform, we’re going to sing, you’re going to have fun, but you’re going to learn as well,” said King.
Since that inagural show, the troupe has been performing a number of original shows at a variety of venues. King says they continue to try to bring a high level of entertainment and education to each one of their performances.
“We have just been truly blessed and truly gifted in this edutainment field of life, of telling people about our experiences and expanding people’s knowledge about African American history and African American entertainers,” said King.
Saturday night’s show is called “The Lasting Power of I Have a Dream.” King says the Divas will bring their unique perspective to the audience, as they reflect on what led up to Dr. King delivering his most iconic speech.
“We decided to recognize and pay tribute to the 60th anniversary of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, that MLK did. So, we’re paying tribute and homage to that, and giving people a little bit of background on how that speech almost didn’t happen,” said King.
Dr. King originally planned to deliver a very different speech that day, but ultimately he pivoted, and the rest — is now history. The Divas of Eastwood will help to tell that story during their performance in Seguin on Saturday night.
“He got a move from the Holy Spirit, that said — ‘No, let’s talk about this.’ And he put that speech to the side — right in the middle (of it) — and he started his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech. (Gospel legend) Mahalia Jackson was actually instumental with him going into that, because she shouted out from the stage and she said ‘Tell them about the dream, Martin. Tell them about the dream.’ So, he left that speech and went into his ‘I Have a Dream speech, where he improvised and created most of…that entire speech,” said King.
They’ll be some dramatic representations during the performance along with some songs. King says they want to entertain the audience, while also helping us all to better understand this part of American history.
“We’ll do the singing, and we’ll do the acting for sure. Possibly not the poetry this time, because we only have 45 minutes, and we want to make sure we pay as much homage to that Dream speech. So, we will do a part of the Dream speech, and we’ll be telling you parts of the history of what happened that day. Whether it was some of the changes, and like I said, how the speech almost didn’t happen. There are several other factors that came into play as to why the speech almost did not happen at all. So, it’s going to be edutainment – telling you the history of the speech, and then we will be doing the last part of the speech ourselves on stage,” said King.
Tickets are $50 each and they can be purchased today from any Seguin MLK Day Committee member. You can also purchase the tickets online. A link to those tickets can be found on our website, seguintoday.com.
MLK Committee member Joe Patterson says this will be a special night, and it’s something that you shouldn’t miss.
“And this is the one time that, as we say in the black community, you can put your Sunday-Go-To-Meeting clothes on and come out and lounge and have a good time and relax. Nobody is uptight about the play. It’s a clean play. It’s based on the struggle and the fight that Martin Luther King had put forward while he was on Earth. We need to keep that going, because…we don’t want to forget our history. So, it’s always good to remind people every chance we get that the struggle continues,” said Patterson.
Patterson says the ticket price was increased this year. He says that was done to make sure that they could cover the costs of the meal and the entertainment that will be offered that night. He says it’s a reasonable price to pay, when you consider what people will get that evening. Patterson says they also want to remind people that this a fundraiser and the money raised will help to support the ongoing work of the Seguin MLK Committee.
“Acting as and being the treasurer for this organization, I am constantly on pins and needles when it comes to (people saying) ‘we want to do (something). Then I’m thinking — every time we want to do something, there’s money attached. Nothing is free…and our people in the community have to understand that we accept donations, but at the same time, we have got to pay for what we do. There’s got to be a funding mechanism that can support that, and right now, $30 wasn’t the number that we needed. We had to go up on our tickets in order to get enough money to pay our way, to make sure that we would be able to put on the best function possible, and not have to beg people to help us pay for it,” said Patterson.
The doors open to the Seguin MLK Banquet/Dinner Show at 5 p.m. Saturday in the Seguin Coliseum. The social hour will be followed by the dinner and program, along with the performance by the Divas of Eastwood. The five-day MLK celebration Seguin begins on Thursday with a church service at New St. James Baptist Church. The schedule continues on Friday with the Seguin ISD Choir Showcase at Seguin High School. There will be a Black Entrepreneur Networking event Friday night at Court Street Coffee. Saturday morning, the schedule includes a storytime event at the Seguin Public Library. The MLK Gospel Fest, featuring the Seguin Community Choir, will be held on Sunday afternoon at New Life Fellowship Church. The schedule wraps up with the annual MLK Freedom March on Monday morning. The march will start outside of the Wupperman Little Theatre at Texas Lutheran University. It will leave TLU at 10 a.m. Monday and travel down Court Street to downtown Seguin, where a program will follow in Central Park. All of the MLK Freedom Week events are free, with the exception of Saturday night’s banquet in the Coliseum. A full schedule of events can be found on the MLK Seguin Facebook page.
