The Fountain Theatre commemorates the emancipation of enslaved women and men in Texas on June 19, 1865 — the last state to abolish slavery in the U.S. following the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 — with a special event at the Fountain’s new Covid-safe outdoor venue in East Hollywood. The Fountain’s Juneteenth Celebration will take place on Saturday, June 19 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Admission is free and open to the public.
The Fountain event will feature dancing with D.J. Earry Hall as well as special guests. Food and handcrafted items will be available for purchase from Black vendors and artisans, including Mama Aunties Vegan Goodies; Gloria Shelby-Dyer (SoBeltClothing.com and Affirmation Mirrors); Nappilynaturals/Sharon Williams; B.T. Williams Handmade Jewelry; and Brilliance Ltd.
The celebration will immediately follow a 5 p.m. matinee performance of the Obie award-winning play An Octoroon by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, a Los Angeles premiere production that is inaugurating the Fountain’s new outdoor stage (separate, ticketed admission).
Counting down to the June 19 event, the Fountain will also host a virtual Juneteenth panel discussion, moderated by playwright, performer and founder/artistic director of Minneapolis-based Carlyle Brown & Company Carlyle Brown and featuring panelists Miami Herald journalist Bea L. Hines; performance artist, educator and linguist Vanya Allen; and playwright/screenwriter Keith Josef Adkins, on Monday June 14 at 1 p.m. PT. The discussion will be available live on Zoom, and will also be live-streamed on the Fountain’s social media platforms, where it will remain available to view on demand throughout the week.
On Tuesday, June 15, the Fountain will post a spoken word video created in honor of Juneteenth by Loyola Marymount University’s Theatre in Color. The LMU video will also remain available to view on demand throughout the week.
Juneteenth, also known as Freedom Day, Jubilee Day, Liberation Day and Emancipation Day, has been celebrated by African Americans on June 19 every year since the late 1800s.
Earlier this year, the Fountain received approval from the City of Los Angeles to install the outdoor stage for the purpose of safely presenting live performances and other events during the pandemic. Construction is now complete, with the opening of An Octoroon slated for June 18.
An Octoroon is Jacobs-Jenkins’s gasp-inducing deconstruction of a moustache-twirling melodrama by 19th century playwright Dion Boucicault that twists a funhouse world of larger-than-life stereotypes into blistering social commentary.