Gone Too Soon is an inspiring theatrical production that re-lives the successes and setbacks of Martin Luther King Jr. and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s through court depositions by six of his closest associates.
Coretta Scott King uses a rarely known Tennessee statute to present new witnesses directly to the grand jury after the untimely death of James Earl Ray, Martin Luther King’s confessed assassin. Code 4012-104 allows her to bypass the district attorneys refusal to hear new evidence in the assassination of Dr. King on the balcony of a Memphis motel.
This two-act contemporary play is set in an Atlanta courtroom in front of a grand jury that is compelled to deliberate the case based solely on the evidence presented.
Memorable scenes are brought to life as they unfolded during the Montgomery bus boycott of 1957, the 1963 March on Washington, the tragic events on Bloody Sunday of 1965, to the rousing Promised Land speech the night before his premature death on April 4, 1968.
The jury’s verdict is based upon the final closing arguments by the District Attorney and the opposing council. It examines the current status of civil rights in this country and the issues we still need to overcome as a people to reach the Promised Land set forth in the dream by Martin Luther King Jr.