nothin New Haven Lights Up The Trump Night | New Haven Independent

New Haven Lights Up The Trump Night

Paul Bass Photos

Long Wharf’s Borenstein counts down.

On the eve of what many New Haveners consider the inauguration of a dark era in America, hundreds filled the plaza outside the Shubert Theatre to blast one last communal beacon of hope.

The crowd gathered on College Street Thursday evening as part of a nationwide Ghostlight Project.” Hundreds of theaters invited people to create a light’ for dark times ahead” at precisely 5:30 p.m. in advance on Friday’s noontime inauguration of President Donald Trump.

The Shubert, Yale Repertory and Long Wharf theaters teamed up to organize New Haven’s event on College Street.

Yale Rep Managing Director Victoria Nolan explained that ghost lights” remain on otherwise dark and unoccupied stages to help people feel safe. She called on the crowd to create a symbolic safe harbor for all of our values and any among us who find ourselves targeted” because of their race, gender, sexual orientation, legal status, or dissident action.”

Aleta Stanton read aloud a poem by Elizabeth Alexander (who read at President Barack Obama’s first inauguration). The poem: Praise Song for the Day.” What if the mightiest word,” she asked, is love?”

On my countdown,” declared Long Wharf Managing Director Joshua Borentstein (pictured at the top of the story), let’s create our own huge ghost light. On the count of three, turn on your lights, and beam them out to the darkness!” The crowd responded by hoisting their glow lights and smartphone cameras …

… high into the air and out into the darkness, with a mixture of celebration …

… realism …

and defiance.

The Shubert’s Kelly Wuzzardo called up members of Cooperative High School’s theater troupe, with whom she works, to close out the event with a heartfelt rendition of John Lennon’s Imagine.” Click on the video to watch it, and click here to read why one New York Times columnist argues that the song typifies what Blue America fails to understand about human nature and the rest of America’s quest for religious faith, spiritual communities, and pride in their country.

Petisia Adger.

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