The Edmonds School District and Edmonds Center for the Arts are spreading the Black Lives Matter message to the community.

The Edmonds Center for the Arts is screening a BLM-inspired children’s play, “Jabari Dreams of Freedom,” March 13 via Livestream.

The play follows 10-year-old Jabari, who lives in fear of gun violence — especially after a friend of his is hurt by police.

“Jabari Dreams of Freedom” is about the struggle of Jabari’s mother and father to preserve their son’s sense of hope in the face of trauma. But for most of the show’s 47-minute running time, Jabari has a dream of his own.

In his dream, with his hero President Barack Obama as his guide, Jabari meets children from the Civil Rights Movement, including 15-year-old Claudette Colvin, who was arrested in 1955 for resisting segregation on the buses of Montgomery, Alabama, and Ruby Bridges, 6, who found herself at the front lines of the New Orleans school desegregation battle of 1960.

“It’s really an engaging play designed for kids in third to sixth grade,” said Gillian Jones, director of programming for the arts center. “They’ve done a great job of converting what was the live performance into a virtual showing.”

The play — touring the U.S. as a Black Lives Matter virtual production — teaches black children like Jabari to have hope and be fearless.

“We want to engage our community in a meaningful conversation around Black Lives Matter, to understand that doesn’t mean that only black lives matter or that black lives matter more,” said Courtney Wooten, a leader of the Edmonds School District’s Black Lives Matter at School Planning Committee. “But to get to a point where all of our lives truly do matter — where all of us feel valid and welcome and belonging — we have to make sure that we are also combating anti-blackness in our community.”

In the cast are Cameron Goode (Jabari), Octavius Lanier (Jabari’s dad, Barack Obama and James Stewart), Lori Sinclair Minor (Jabari’s mom, Claudette Colvin, Ruby Bridges and Arnette Streeter) and Otis McDaniel (Emmett).

At the turning point of the play, Jabari visits the Children’s March of 1963, in which thousands of students marched in Birmingham, Alabama, to protest segregation.

When Jabari wakes up from his dream, he finds out that his friend is OK. He also has an idea of what he can do about his fear.

Jones said she is excited that the Edmonds Center for the Arts also has curriculum — for teachers and homeschooling parents — to go with the play.

Kids can make their own protest sign in a virtual workshop to hold up during the Children’s March scene in “Jabari Dreams of Freedom.” Email katie@ec4arts.org to sign up for the free workshop.

A live Q&A with playwright Nambi E. Kelley and director Daniel Carlton will follow the screening. Justine Locke, a teacher at Chase Lake Elementary School, is the moderator.

Arts in Action

In collaboration with “Jabari Dreams of Freedom,” the Edmonds School District’s Black Lives Matter at School Planning Committee is hosting an Arts in Action student showcase on March 12 via Livestream. It’s also free.

“Our students have also been at the forefront of pushing for equality, pushing for change, pushing for progress,” Wooten said, adding that the showcase is meant to honor the power of student voice through visual art, song, dance and spoken word.

Students in the Edmonds area — including from Oak Heights Elementary School, Beverly Elementary School, Edmonds Heights K-12, Maplewood K-8, College Place Middle School, Terrace Park School, Edmonds-Woodway High School, Mountlake Terrace High School, Meadowdale High School, Lynnwood High School and Edmonds Community College — have scheduled virtual performances.

Arts in Action is sponsored by the Edmonds School District, Edmonds Center for the Arts and the Communities of Color Coalition.

In addition to Arts in Action, the Black Lives Matter at School Planning Committee also has organized a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Challenge for Change 5K and Lunchtime Read-Alouds.

Sara Bruestle: 425-339-3046; sbruestle@heraldnet.com; @sarabruestle.

If you stream

The Edmonds Center of the Arts presents a free virtual screening of the new children’s play “Jabari Dreams of Freedom” at 2 p.m. March 13 via Livestream. A live Q&A with playwright Nambi E. Kelley and director Daniel Carlton follows the screening. For children 9 and older. Registration required. A Livestream link to the show will be emailed with registration. Call 425-275-9595 or go to www.edmondscenterforthearts.org.

Also: Arts in Action, a showcase honoring student activism in the Edmonds School District, is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. March 12. The Livestream event features visual art, song, dance and spoken word performances. Go to bit.ly/artsinactionlivestream to watch the show.