Defend New Orleans and the Ace Hotel present: Compassion in Justice on Tuesday

Defend New Orleans and the Ace Hotel presents Compassion in Justice from 4 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Tuesday, August 16, in the Three Keys Room at the Ace Hotel (600 Carondelet Street). The event will serve as a book release for Lara Naughton’s The Jaguar Man and a product launch for Defend New Orleans’ new Compassion New Orleans brand. The aim of the event is to explore the notion of healing through story and song.

In addition to a reading from Naughton, Gregory Bright will perform monologues from the one-man play that he and Naughton created through their collaboration in 2010. The play, Never Fight a Shark in Water, tells the story of his wrongful murder conviction and the 27 1/2 years he spent in the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola before being exonerated.

The event will also feature Khari Allen Lee and his ensemble The New Creative Collective, who will play music immediately following the readings. Local business Defend New Orleans (DNO) will unveil its new “Compassion New Orleans” t-shirt collection on this evening in its new DNO Downtown store location, adjoined to Ace Hotel New Orleans.

Proceeds from the event will support Innocence Project New Orleans (IPNO), a nonprofit law office dedicated to freeing the wrongly convicted in Louisiana and south Mississippi. Since 2001, IPNO has freed or exonerated 28 innocent clients, including Gregory Bright.

The event schedule is as follows:

4 – 6 p.m.: Author Meet & Greet plus “Compassion” Product Line Launch at DNO’s downtown location next to the Ace Hotel. Copies of The Jaguar Man and Compassion New Orleans t-shirts, pins and posters will be available for purchase.

6 – 7 p.m.: Happy Hour Reception in the ACE Hotel Lobby Bar with DJ set by Brice Nice

7 – 8 p.m.: Readings by Lara Naughton, The Jaguar Man, and Gregory Bright, Never Fight a Shark in Water, inside Three Keys Room at the Ace Hotel.

8 – 9 p.m.: Live Music by Khari Allen Lee and the New Creative Collective in the Three Keys Room at the Ace Hotel.

9 p.m. – 12 a.m.: DJ Brice Nice in the Lobby Bar