More than 500 patrons packed The Westport Library's Trefz Forum on a snowy Sunday afternoon for the 19th annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration featuring renowned screenwriter and producer Shonda Rhimes, in conversation with award-winning novelist and filmmaker Trey Ellis.
The two Westport residents spoke thoughtfully and candidly of what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day means to them and about Rhimes’ remarkable career as a trailblazer in television and film — Shondaland founder and CEO, Golden Globe and Peabody Award winner, inductee into the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame, and much more — to the delight of the capacity crowd.
“Part of what’s so great about this day, and part of what makes me love Westport so much, is that we have an event like this, and I see all these people here, for the cause that Martin Luther King speaks to,” said Rhimes. “That’s amazing to me. That’s what makes this community special.”
The appearance was a return engagement for both speakers. Rhimes was the Library’s BOOKED for the evening honoree in 2022 and screened her documentary, Black Barbie, in the Trefz Forum last year. Ellis, meantime, has appeared at the Library on a number of occasions, most recently at the 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, which featured Dr. Clarence Jones, a former advisor and speechwriter for Dr. King — an address Rhimes referenced in her remarks Sunday afternoon.
“What I learned last year, and what I try to continue to learn and try to continue to teach my children, is that there is always a way to make the world a better place,” Rhimes said. “There are a million ways to make the world a better place. And your goal should be to look back at yourself and ask, ‘What did I do this month to make the world a better place?’ Because if you didn’t, what are you doing? … That’s what I always try to think about on Martin Luther King Day.”
The annual Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration is a partnership between the Library, TEAM Westport, the Westport Country Playhouse, and the Westport/Weston Clergy Association, in addition to the Walter Luckett Jr. Foundation, the Bridgeport-based nonprofit that brought a number of its students to the afternoon. The Luckett Foundation students met with Rhimes prior to the event and asked advance questions that were answered at the end of the conversation between Rhimes and Ellis.
In addition to the keynote conversation, the afternoon featured introductions by TEAM Westport’s Harold Bailey, U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal, the Westport/Weston Clergy Association’s Rabbi Jeremy Wiederhorn, Mark Shanahan of the Westport Country Playhouse, and the Library’s Bill Harmer, as well as a pair of stirring performances from local singing sensation Christian Servance.
***
Photos by KT Kaminski, Westport Library