Shadowbox original lively, liberating

Shadowbox Live lets freedom ring with an energetic new company-created performance piece celebrating the pivotal 1960s.

“The Dream” blends history, biography, inspiration, indignation, passion and humor in a kaleidoscopic portrait of American progress toward equal rights.

Director Julie Klein weaves narration, video sequences, strong singing and lyrical dancing into a documentary-style quasimusical imbued with the same spirit of tolerance and acceptance as “Back to the Garden,” the troupe’s Woodstock tribute.

Inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, “The Dream” shows how the civil- rights movement sparked women, gays, lesbians, anti- draft protesters and others to march, too.

At an hour and 45 minutes, including intermission, the well- paced two- act is entertaining and informative and only rarely didactic or preachy.

David Whitehouse’s well- edited videos — including period news footage, photographs and famous faces — add you-were-there immediacy.

Perhaps the most shocking video sequence — prompting incredulous laughter at the opening performance Thursday in the troupe’s Brewery District space — highlights old magazine ads blatantly reflecting a man’s world.

It’s a deliciously ironic overture to “You Don’t Own Me,” a retro-feminist anthem sung with impatient conviction by Summit J. Starr, Eryn Reynolds and a plucky ensemble.

Also darkly amusing is Noelle Anderson’s first-act opener, “Mississippi Goddamn,” a race-conscious critique of the Old South backed by a parodic chorus of happily unawakened white citizens.

Overall, the choice of songs is apt — from the opening Dylan classic “The Times They Are a Changin’” to Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come” and Blood, Sweat & Tears’ “And When I Die.”

The onstage band capably evokes the era’s orchestrations.

Among the memorable songs: Stephanie Shull’s poignant “Strange Fruit/ Dixie,” Stacie Boord’s plaintive “What’s Going On” and Anderson’s surging affirmation of Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”

Jimmy Mak’s writing team did its homework: Even those who lived through this era should find intriguing tidbits, including some relatively unsung equal-rights pioneers who deserve to be remembered.