First Woman LLC

JABARI DREAMS OF FREEDOM:

JABARI DREAMS OF FREEDOM is a play to save Black youth from living through fear. It tells the story of Jabari, a young Black boy from the South Side of Chicago who loves to paint. Through painting, he can escape the turbulent world around him. When a friend is hurt by police, Jabari is afraid to leave the house. With his Forever President Barack Obama as a guide, he dreams he meets children from the Civil Rights Era including Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, and a 7-year-old Barack Obama on the eve of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Can Jabari use the lessons he’s learned to instill in young Barack the ideas he’ll need to become president? Will Jabari take these lessons back into his own life and heal his community? Using history, rap, freedom songs, and humor, this play explores what it means to have courage in a world where Black children—Black boys—are not safe

HERO THE BOY FROM TROY:

A NEW MUSICAL ABOUT YOUNG JOHN LEWIS

Stuck in detention and forced to read a book about Congressman John Lewis, Jayden thinks that history has nothing to teach him. Go on a musical journey through the decades to learn how the heroes in the Civil Rights movement inspired young John Lewis to protest injustice and get into “good trouble.” As John meets Rosa Parks and Dr. King and ultimately becomes a leader and American hero himself, Jayden learns how he too can take a stand.

Pig Foot Mary’s Harlem Renaissance:

Pigfoot Mary, secretly wealthy from her popular food stand, dreams of California’s skies and awaits news on a property sale that could mark her departure from Harlem. But leaving isn’t easy— her world includes Hot Fingers the Piano Player, The Garveyite, Zora Neale Hurston, and the famous Langston Hughes. Is her legacy in the food and friendships she’s built or in following a new dream?  Inspired by Lillian Harris Dean, one of Harlem’s most successful early entrepreneurs in the 1920s, this lively two actor play bursts with jazz, vibrant characters, and dances of the Harlem Renaissance. We get a taste of literature and history references throughout, and audiences will connect the past to today in a fun, poignant, and educational way. Daniel Carlton originally wrote and performed Pigfoot Mary Says Goodbye To The Harlem Renaissance for general adult and high school audiences in 2011. This new version of the play is being developed to reach a broader range of young audiences (including elementary grades) and is supported by the TYA Tour Development Collective with contributions from Midwest Trust Center, Wharton Center for Performing Arts, and Walton Arts Center. It had a developmental workshop performance in September 2025 and will premiere before its inaugural national tour in winter 2027.