Photo by Ross Ezentner
Renaissance Theaterworks’ The Ballad of Emmett Till is a powerful exploration of one of the inciting events of the civil rights movement: the brutal 1955 murder of 14-year-old Till by white Southerners enraged over his wolf whistling at a white woman. Under Marti Gobel’s exquisite direction, Ifa Bayeza’s script comes alive with the sounds of Gospel music, jazz, Delta blues and contemporary prose. Three musicians—Brian Bauman, Jahmés Finlayson and John Nicholson—provide accompaniment for a marvelous ensemble of six actors who dance, sing and embody multiple characters from the historic narrative. The work’s great strength is in filling out the human story behind what has become a minimally understood event in American history. Emmett is not an unwitting martyr, but a real person—a young man loved by his family and full of joy, ambition, pride and promise.
Gobel employs several striking theatrical devices in the course of the show, most memorably the convention of having members of the all-African American cast turn their backs to the audience while playing white characters. In two instances, performers also play characters cross-gender. Both devices force the audience to pause, think about what they’re seeing and judge the characters based on their actions rather than their appearances. A bold and effective choice for a charged piece of theater.
The ensemble is impressive throughout. Of particular note is Ericka Wade in the role of Emmett’s mother, Mamie, a woman of such conviction that, upon receiving her son’s broken body, says, “Leave the casket open. I want the world to see.” Allen D. Edge is likewise stunning as Uncle Mose Wright, Till’s guardian during his fateful stay in Mississippi. He is a strong patriarch, retired preacher and sharecropper terrified to “lose the land again.” Edge’s performance is subtle, nuanced and completely believable.
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In the role of Till, Marques Causey does a marvelous job revealing the kind of person Till was. The story’s bitter irony is in Till’s very personality; he possesses characteristics widely praised, in 1955 as today, when displayed by white males but derided in black males. He is proud. He is intelligent. He does not back down. While being savagely beaten and ordered to apologize for behaving “like one of us,” he repeats his name, reminds his captors that the South lost the Civil War and describes himself as “two parts god, one part man.” Till’s nature itself is a death sentence in the Jim Crow South, and this cannot be more significant. How can America call itself free when individuals are not safe to be themselves? The play ends with an unsettling question from Till’s spirit: “Is it done?”
Through Nov. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-291-7800 or visit r-t-w.com.
