Laurence Fishburne shines in HBO's Thurgood, Feb, 24, previews

By April MacIntyre Feb 23, 2011, 2:47 GMT

Filmed in front of a live audience at the Eisenhower Theater of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the production covers the pivotal points in Marshall\'s life and career, and his determined battle for civil rights.

Thursday night features a no miss HBO documentary, "Thurgood" -- as Laurence Fishburne shines in this acclaimed one-man play about Thurgood Marshall, America's first black Supreme Court justice.

Filmed in front of a live audience at the Eisenhower Theater of the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the production covers the pivotal points in Marshall's life and career, and his determined battle for civil rights.  The performance netted Fishburne a Tony nomination.

The HBO doc airs February 24, 10 p.m. Thursday.

The play is written By George Stevens, Jr.; Executive Produced By Bill Haber’s Ostar Productions and George Stevens, Jr.; Co-Executive Produced By Laurence Fishburne; and directed And Produced By Michael Stevens.

Other HBO playdates:  Feb. 24 (3:55 a.m.) and 27 (11:45 a.m.)

From HBO

Told in the first person by Fishburne in the role of Marshall, Thurgood is a compelling present-tense narration revisiting the turning points in his life and career as he remembers them. 

Recalling childhood stories of his family and home life in Baltimore, to his college days in North Carolina as an aspiring lawyer, Marshall recollects his triumphs over adversity to pursue a successful career in the judicial system fighting for human rights.  Establishing benchmarks in Civil Rights advancement, Marshall tried the historic case of Brown vs. Board of Education before the Supreme Court, successfully challenging the unconstitutional segregation of black and white students in public schools. 

His achievements eventually led him to become the first African-American to serve as a Supreme Court Justice.

George Stevens, Jr. is best known for such film and TV work as the Emmy® winners “Separate But Equal,” starring Sidney Poitier and “The Murder of Mary Phagan,” starring Jack Lemmon.  “The Thin Red Line,” executive produced by Stevens, was nominated for seven Academy Awards®, including Best Picture.  Thurgood, his playwriting debut, originally ran at the prestigious Booth Theater on Broadway in April 2008.

Michael Stevens was associate producer on the “The Thin Red Line” and has produced and directed two independent features, including “Sin,” with Gary Oldman and Ving Rhames.  He is the recipient of three Emmy Awards, two of them consecutive victories for the “Kennedy Center Honors” as outstanding television special.  Stevens produced HBO’s presentation of “We Are One:  The Obama Inaugural Celebration at the Lincoln Memorial” and most recently was nominated for a Grammy Award for producing Bettye LaVette’s “Interpretations:  The British Rock Songbook.”