Alan Marshall, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, was raised to understand that the freedom and equal opportunities he possessed were the byproducts of the struggles and sacrifices of those, both known and unheralded, who participated in the Civil Rights Movement. He has always felt compelled to give something back to the movement that has given so much to him.and this nation. In 2010, Marshall found the means to repay that debt when began writing the first opera about the civil rights movement. THE MARCH: A Civil Rights Opera is a dramatization of the events surrounding the 1963 March on Washington. Marshall's innovation of the "mass-meeting" as a theatrical medium was introduced as part of the first public concert of music from the opera on January 15th, 2012 at North Park Covenant Church. A mass-meeting production includes freedom songs with audience participation, speeches, testimonies & character-driven drama, all happening in and around the audience. Marshall has written, directed, and produced several mass-meeting shows to dramatize well known & obscure episodes from the civil rights movement.

These include, Freedom Summer, Remembering Medgar Evers, Shades of Mississippi, The Birmingham Children's March, and Prelude to a Dream.Marshall lives with his family in Chicago where he is a volunteer basketball, soccer, cross country and track coach at the elementary school his children attend. He is also the founder and athletic director of the Chi-Town Huskies AAU Sports Club.