From 6-7:30 pm we will be hosting a community organization fair featuring local nonprofit and grassroots advocacy organizations that work on issues related to criminal justice and incarceration.  

In addition to tabling, I’d also like to invite y'all to the performance afterwards of Bryonn Bain’s Lyrics From Lockdown. Bain was wrongfully imprisoned during his second year at Harvard Law School and once exonerated, he penned a Village Voice exposé titled “Walking While Black.” This piece evolved into Lyrics From Lockdown, which debuted at the National Black Theater in 2013 and has since been at the Apollo Theater, the Kennedy Center, and other venues. 

Here’s the full schedule of events for the evening:  

6-7:30pm 

I HeArt Justice Opening, UHCL Art Gallery: For fall 2023, our art gallery (adjacent to the Bayou Theater) will host an exhibition of justice-related posters created by local artists in partnership with Texas Appleseed. In the gallery you can also donate to our book drive for incarcerated readers, organized by Inside Books Project.  

Community Organization Fair, Atrium 1: Local non-profit and grassroots advocacy organizations will represent their organizations and share information about ongoing campaigns. 

7:30pm 

Lyrics From Lockdown, Bayou Theater: This unforgettable performance by Bryonn Bain is a one-man tour de force that weaves together over 40 voices, including a California choirboy sentenced to Death Row in Texas at 17, an immigrant family in Brooklyn, and a wrongfully incarcerated Harvard Law student, to expose the unresolved contradictions of prisons in America. 

Following the performance there will be a post-show discussion with acclaimed film producer, writer, and director Rob Reiner (The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, LBJ).