 Welcome. I'm P. Carl. I'm the co-artistic director here at Arts Emerson, a director of Hallaround, and on behalf of Arts Emerson, Hallaround, Emerson College, welcome to the Cutler Majestic Theater and to the Ghostlight Project. I'm Kevin Becerra. We're going to do this bit outside, and then we're going to move inside through the front doors after we're done out here. It should be about 10, 15 minutes, not enough time to catch up with Ormia, and then we'll continue with a community read inside. Carl, take it away. It is now 5.30 p.m. All right. And in hundreds of theaters, over 700 theaters now across our time zone, thousands of people in 17 other states are gathering right this minute, and there are people gathering in several theaters around the city of Boston as well. Yeah, so we were part of a great community, just even locally with the BCA and the ART, the Huntington Theater, all being a part of this movement. So shout out to them. So tonight, we the Boston Theater community are not only standing together here, but also standing in solidarity with theater institutions and universities and high schools and community theaters and every kind of venue you can imagine everywhere. The American theater community is coming together to make a pledge, a pledge to values we've always held, but must now be certain that we acknowledge together as a community. And we are at a very historic moment in our country and we're so happy to be together to make this pledge. These are the values of inclusion, equality and tolerance and compassion for all. Can you repeat this with me? So we support the values of inclusion, equality and compassion for all. When our theaters go dark at the end of the night, we turn on a ghostlight and we turn that light on the stage. It offers visibility and safety for all who enter. This is our theatrical tradition. This is our inspiration. Like a ghostlight tonight will symbolize safety and protection and hope that through our actions change is possible and change will happen. I brought a light with you, I hope. If you haven't, I know you have a cell phone, so turn on those flashlights. Because we are here to create light for any dark times ahead. We are here to be a light for one another, to be a light in our own community and to be a light in our own lives. To be a light in the art we make and how we make it. So now we create our own ghostlight. Let's turn our lights towards this theater and symbolically towards the whole city of Boston. And now we're going to make this pledge. We're going to do this pledge together. You're going to repeat after me. With these lights, we the Boston Theater community renew and deepen our commitment to stand for and protect the values of inclusion, respect and compassion for everyone. Everyone, regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, disability, age, gender identity or sexual orientation. Let's continue repeating. We promise to hold ourselves accountable for how we treat people, welcome people, tell our stories, for how we choose our collaborators and cast our plays. We will hold ourselves accountable for how we serve our communities and commit to ongoing action and advocacy of all kinds. This is our pledge in solidarity and celebration. All right, you guys are awesome. Give yourself a big round of applause. All right, so now we're going to transition through the front of the theater into the house of the majestic. And we're going to do a community reading of the amendments of the Constitution. So there'll be more on that inside. So let's move on in and warm up. Thank you so much. We'll see you inside. Right is about celebrating what can happen when we gather and commit to making our communities better. Evidence of this can be found in the foundational document of this country, the United States Constitution. After the Constitution was ratified in 1787, there was almost immediately a recognition that the rights of the people must be as clearly stated and protected as the branches of government. Tonight, we will read through the constitutional amendments to hear the legacy of expanding individual rights and evolving protocol. We want to recognize many of these rights came at a high cost with hard work and huge sacrifice from citizens who came before us. We recognize that there are still amendments to be made and celebrate this history of achieving change. All right. We are going to do this together. If you are interested in reading a section, please line up at the foot of the stairs here. We'll hand you a passage to read and one by one, you'll come up on stage and read them into that mic there until we've gone through all the amendments. Feel free to wrap around and get in line as many times as you would like. We just want to shout out, this is very inspired by the community read of the Frederick Douglass conversations that happen in front of the State House every year. And so we are really proud to be inspired by them and to make this event happen here in the majestic. All right. So we have selected a few that we're going to read together, which are on the handout that you got as you walked in, which includes the preamble and the first amendment. So go ahead and please come here to the foot of the stairs and line up, and we'll call you up as we go through them. And as that line assembles, we're going to start with the preamble. Here we go. We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, ensure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of life, selves and our prosperity. Do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America and will continue as a group into article one. As amendment one, freedom of expression and religion. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or of the right of the people peaceably assembled. And to petition the government for redress of grievances. All right, go ahead and come up and make your way to that microphone there. Yes, thank you. Both of these ones on here? Yep, the one you got there. Okay, this thing works. Article two, a well-regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. Amendment three, no soldier shall in time of peace be quartered in any house without the consent of the owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. Thank you, and there's a set of stairs over there. Yep, come on up. You're reading what you got in your hand there. Yep, that one right there. And you can go ahead and come up see everybody. Yep. Amendment four, search and seizure. The right of the people to be secure in their persons houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. And no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized. Thank you. Thanks. That way? Yep, that way. Article five, amendment five, rights of persons. No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces or in the militia, when an actual service in time of war or public danger. Nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. Nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself or herself. Nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. Nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. Thank you. Article six, amendment six, rights of accused in criminal prosecutions. In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed. Which district shall have been previously ascertained by law and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him or her, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his or her favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his or her defense? Article seven, amendment seven, civil trials. In suits at common law where the value and controversy shall exceed $20, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved and no fact tried by a jury shall be otherwise reexamined in any court of the United States than according to the rules of the common law. Article eight, amendment eight, further guarantees in criminal cases. Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. One seldom discussed. Article nine, unenumerated rights. The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people. And article 10, reserved powers. The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or to the people. Thank you. Article 11, suits against the states. The judicial power of the United States shall not be construed to extend any suit of law or equity commenced or prosecuted against any one of the United States by citizens of another state, or by citizens or subjects of any foreign state. Article 12, amendment 12, election of president. The electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for president and vice president, one of whom at least shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves. They shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as president and of all persons voted for as vice president and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States directed to the president of the senate. Thank you. Amendment 12, continued. The president of the senate shall, in the presence of the senate and house of representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted. The person having the greatest number of votes for president shall be the president. If such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest number not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as president, the house of representatives shall choose immediately by ballot the president. Amendment 12, continued. But in choosing the president, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote. A quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the house of representatives shall not choose a president whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them before the fourth day of march next following, then the vice president shall act as president, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the president. Amendment 12, continued. The person having the greatest number of votes as vice president shall be the vice president. If such number be a majority of the whole number of electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list the senate shall choose the vice president. A quorum for the purpose shall consist of two thirds of the whole number of senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of president shall be eligible to that of vice president of the United States. Article 13, amendment 13, slavery and involuntary servitude, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Alright, and we're going to read 14 as an all. So article 14, amendment 14, writes, guaranteed privileges and immunities of citizenship due process and equal protection. Please join me in reading section one. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States, nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. Thank you. We'll continue with section two. Amendment 14, section two. Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state or the members of the legislature thereof is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being 21 years of age, 15 and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens 21 years of age in such state. Article 14, section three. No person shall be a senator or representative in Congress or elected or of President and Vice President, or hold any office or military under the United States or under any state who, having previously taken an oath as a member of Congress or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislator, legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress, made by a vote of two-thirds of each house, removes such a disability. Amendment 14, section four. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services and suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any state shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States or any claim for the loss of emancipation of any slave. But all such debts, obligations, and claims shall be held illegal and void. And we will read, as a group, Article 15, Amendment 15, rights of citizens to vote. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. Thank you. We'll continue with 16. Amendment 16, income tax. The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes from whatever source derived without apportionment among the several states and without regard to any census or enumeration. Amendment 17, popular election of senators. The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two senators from each state, elected by the people thereof for six years, and each senator shall have one vote. Amendment 17, Section 2. When vacancies happen in the representation of any state in the Senate, the executive authority of such state shall issue wits of election to avail such vacancy, provided that the legislation of any state may empower the state. To make temporary appointments until the people fill the vacancy by election as the legislative may direct. Amendment 18, prohibition of intoxicating liquors. Section 1, after one year from the ratification of this article, the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within the importation thereof into or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes, is hereby prohibited. Section 2, the Congress and the several states shall have concurrent power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation. And we will read 19 as a group. Article 19, amendment 19, women's suffrage rights. The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on the account of sex. Article 20, terms of president, vice president, members of Congress, presidential vacancy. The term of the president and vice president shall end at noon on the 20th day of January. And the terms of senators and representatives at noon on the third day of January of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified. And the terms of their successors shall then begin. Amendment 20, section 2, the Congress shall assemble at least once in every year and at such meeting shall begin at noon on the third day of January unless they shall by law appoint a different day. Article 20, section 3, if at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the president, the president-elect shall have died. The vice president-elect shall become president. If a president shall not have been chosen before the time fixed for the beginning of his term, or if the president-elect shall have failed to qualify, then the vice president shall act as president until a president shall have qualified. And the Congress may by law provide for the case wherein neither a president-elect nor a vice president-elect shall have qualified, declaring who shall then act as president, or the manner in which one is to act shall be selected, and such person-person shall act accordingly until a president or vice president shall have qualified. Amendment 20, section 4, the Congress may by law provide for the case of a death of any of the persons from whom the House of Representatives may choose a president whenever the right of choice shall have devolved upon them, and for the case of the death of any of the persons from whom the Senate may choose a vice president whenever the right of the choice shall have devolved upon them. Thank you. Article 21, Amendment 21, repeal of the 18th Amendment. Section 1, the 18th Article of Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is hereby repealed. Section 2, the transportation or importation into any state, territory, or possession of the United States for delivery or use therein of intoxicating liquors in violation of the laws thereof is hereby prohibited. Amendment 22, presidential tenure. No person shall be elected to the office of the president more than twice, and no person who has held the office of president or acted as president for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected president shall be elected to the office of the president more than once. Amendment 23, presidential electors for the District of Columbia. The district constituting the seat of government of the United States shall appoint in such manner as the Congress may direct. A number of electors of president and vice president equal to the whole number of senators and representatives in Congress to which the district will be entitled if it were a state, but in no event more than the least populous state. Amendment 24, abolition of the poll tax qualification in federal elections. The right of citizens of the United States to vote in any primary or other election for president or vice president, for electors for president or vice president, or for senator or representative in Congress shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state by reason of failure to pay any poll tax or other tax. Amendment 25, presidential vacancy disability and inability. One, in case of the removal of the president from office or of his death or resignation, the vice president shall become president. Two, whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the vice president, the president shall nominate a vice president who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress. My bad. Take it away. Sorry about that. Sorry about that. A lot of small pieces of paper. The president and the speaker of the House of Representatives is written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. And until he transmits them to a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the vice president as acting president. Amendment 25, section 4, whenever the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. The vice president shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as acting president. Amendment 25, section 4, continued. Thereafter, when the president transmits to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists. He shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the vice president and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the president pro tempore of the Senate and the speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thank you. Amendment 25, section 4, continued. Thereupon, Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within 48 hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress within 21 days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or if Congress is not in session within 21 days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two thirds vote of both houses that the president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of their office. The vice president shall continue to discharge the same as acting president. Otherwise, the president shall resume the powers and duties of their office. And as a group we will read 26. Amendment 26, reduction of the voting age qualification. The right of citizens of the United States who are 18 years of age or older to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of age. Take it away. Amendment 27, congressional pay limitation. No law varying the compensation for the services of the senators and representatives shall take effect until an election of representatives shall have intervened. All right. How about a big round of applause for everyone who read. Thank you so much. All right, if we could have a little house light, that would be great. So now, to kind of close us out, we'd like to invite you to come up to those microphones in the house. And if you'd like to just reflect on things that came up while hearing the Constitution or the amendments read aloud, things about the lights outside, or if you're feeling bold and we hope you are, pledges that you would like to make to continue to keep spaces like the historic color majestic, inclusive spaces, welcoming spaces, the spaces that you control, whether it be your house or your office, your car, the seat on the T next to you, things that you will do to kind of uphold an inclusive city, a better city. So we're going to cut the live stream at this point so that, you know, what happens here is just for us. And we invite anyone to.