Chicago, Illinois 60637

(773) 947-0600

Contact:

740 East 56th Place

Raymond Ward
(773) 947-0600 ext 228
rward@dusablemuseum.org
Donna Hardwick
(617) 308-5677
Dhardwick@onandonpr.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

LIMITED ENGAGEMENT PERFORMANCE OF FORMER CHICAGO
JOURNALIST JANET LANGHART COHENS PLAY ANNE & EMMETT
ARRIVES AT THE DuSABLE MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY
SEPTEMBER 25 SEPTEMBER 27, 2015
With race relations and intolerance reaching record lows across the country, the play is a
reminder for us to repair the world and create dialogue around these issues.

Chicago, IL. (10 August 2015) --- Janet Langhart Cohen, an Emmy-award nominated
journalist, civil rights activist, founder of the non-profit RARIA and former Chicago
broadcast journalist returns to the city this coming September with her timely play,
ANNE & EMMETT at the DuSable Museum of African American History. Running
Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27, at the Museum, which is
located at 740 East 56th Place (57th Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue) in
Chicago, the one-act play is an imaginary conversation between Anne Frank and
Emmett Till, both victims of racial and religious intolerance and hatred. Acclaimed
director, Thomas W. Jones II (The Islands, Bessies Blues) will direct the piece
with the belief it will help add to the dialogue around these issues.
The ghost of Emmett Till lives on in cases like the shootings at Emanuel African
Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, Freddie Gray, Amadou Diallo, Rekia Boyd, Oscar
Grant III, Manuel Loggins, Jr., Ronald Madison, Sean Bell, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice and
Michael Brown---Black people across America are killed over the years at the hands of
those who have pledged to protect and serve, said Cohen who, as wife of former
Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen was known as the First Lady of the Pentagon
for her active role in supporting the military and their families while her husband was in
office. This isnt about a restoration of justice in America, as there has never been a
balance in our criminal justice system, its about the absence of justice. While Anne and

Emmett may be a part of our past, their stories are just as relevant today as ever.
--more-ANNE & EMMETT @ THE DuSABLE
PAGE 2

Anne is the 15-year old Jewish girl whose diary offered the world a gripping perspective
of the Holocaust touching the hearts of humanity. Emmett is the 14-year old African
American boy whose brutal murder in Mississippi sparked the modern Civil Rights
Movement. An uplifting tribute and timely reminder ANNE & EMMETT is a call to
action to tikkun olam (repair the world). Appropriate for all ages, this play is a
powerful tribute to two teens who changed the course of history.
Tickets are on sale now for the production, which is playing a limited engagement at the
DuSable Museum. Performances are: Friday, September 25 at 7:00 PM; Saturday,
September 26 at 2:00 PM and Sunday, September 27 at 3:00 PM. Tickets are $25 per
person General Admission and $20 per person for DuSable Museum and Illinois
Holocaust Museum and Education Center Members. To purchase tickets please call
773-947-0600 or visit thedusablemuseum.eventbrite.com. There will be a special Student
Performance on Friday, September 25 at 10:30 AM. Admission to the Student
Performance is FREE, however Reservations are required. Please call 773-947-0600 ext
225 for more information.
The DuSable Museum presentation of ANNE & EMMETT is made possible by: RARIA
( Race and Reconciliation in America), The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education
Center, Mass Mutual Financial Group, CBS-2 Chicago, Hyatt Place Chicago-South/
University Medical Center and United Airlines, the Official Airline of The DuSable
Museum. The DuSable Museum of African American History gratefully acknowledges
the Chicago Park Districts generous support of the Museum. This project is partially
supported by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs
& Special Events.
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Janet Langhart Cohen, co-founder of the non-profit RARIA (Race and Reconciliation in
America), is an Emmy-nominated journalist, author and playwright. Cohen, a graduate of
Crispus Attucks High School of Indianapolis Public Schools, began her television career
on CBS in Chicago. During her 25-year career, Mrs. Cohen has appeared on ABC, CBS,
NBC and BET; hosted ABCs Good Day in Boston; covered special assignments for
Entertainment Tonight; and produced several programs including On Capitol Hill with
Janet Langhart. As an overseas correspondent, she covered news in Europe, African and
the Middle East. Mrs. Cohen was active during the Civil Rights Movement and continues
to be a leading voice in the fight for equality.

Throughout her career, Mrs. Cohen interviewed many prominent leaders of the 20th
century including President Bill Clinton, who acknowledged her during his final State of
the Union Address. She also interviewed President Jimmy Carter, Margaret Thatcher,
Rosa Parks, Mel Gibson, Bill Cosby, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Denzel Washington, Dan
Rather, Oprah Winfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, Barbara Walters and Larry King, as well as
David Duke former head of the Ku Klux Klan.
ANNE & EMMETT @ The DuSable
Page 3
She wrote her first book, a memoir entitled From Rage to Reason: My Life in Two
Americas, in 2004. In 2007, she and her husband co-wrote Love in Black and White a
memoir about race, religion, romance and the bonds Langhart and Cohen share over
similar life circumstances and backgrounds. Mrs., Cohen was inducted into the Indiana
Broadcaster Hall of Fame in 2012 and her many honors include: Connor Prairie Spirit of
the Prairie Award; The Mamie Till Mobley Woman of Courage Award; and she was
responsible for the planting of The Emmett Till Tree on Capitol Hill. She was also
awarded an Honorary Doctorate from Emerson College.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Thomas W. Jones II is a much-sought-after professional who has directed, written and
performed in more than 200 plays worldwide. In 1978, Jones founded Jomandi
Productions where, as a Co-Artistic Director and Producing Director, he led Jomandi to
become the third largest African American theatre company in the United States. His
work as a writer, director and actor has been acclaimed nationally and internationally. His
work has received 42 Helen Hayes Award nominations and won 12 awards, including
Best Director for Samm-Art Williams Home and his own Bessies Blues. He has
also received three New York Audelco Award nominations, the Dramalogue Award, the
San Diego Critics Award and the NAACP Phoenix Award, among others.
PLAY SYNOPSIS
ANNE & EMMETT is a one-act play that opens with two teenagers, Anne Frank and
Emmett Till, meeting in Memory, a place that isolates them from the cruelty they
experienced during their lifetime. The beyond-the-grave encounter draws the startling
similarities between the two youths harrowing experiences and the atrocities perpetrated
against them because of their religion and race.
In memory, Anne recounts hiding in a cramped attic, with her family after German
dictator Adolf Hitler ordered the Nazi military to round up Jews and put them in
concentration camps en route to the gas chambers. Anne died of typhus at the BergenBelsen Nazi concentration camp in March 1945, a few weeks before British troops
liberated the concentration camp.
Emmett tells Anne about how he, in 1955, ended up being brutally attacked by a group of

racists and thrown in the Tallahatchie River with a cotton gin fan tied to his neck. This
happened after he whistled at a white woman while visiting his uncle in Money,
Mississippi.
About The DuSable Museum of African American History
The DuSable Museum of African American History is one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the
country. Our mission is to collect, preserve and display artifacts and objects that promote understanding and
inspire appreciation of the achievements, contributions and experiences of African Americans through
exhibits, programs and activities that illustrate African and African American history, culture and art. For
more information on the Museum and its programs, please call (773) 947-0600 or visit us at
www.dusablemuseum.org

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