It’s 1955 and Emmett Till, a 14-year-old boy, leaves Chicago for Money, Miss. Two weeks later, his body is found broken and mutilated in the Tallahatchie River. This young man’s murder ignited the civil rights movement and 60 years later, Renaissance Theaterworks presents a retelling of Till’s life and death with the Milwaukee premiere of Ifa Bayeza’s The Ballad of Emmett Till.
“Bayeza has done a phenomenal job of ensuring that the audience meets not only Emmett but the family that he came from,” shares Marti Gobel, director of the show. “This family had/has a great spiritual connection rooted in laughter and love. Audiences should know that they will laugh a great deal, they will sway to the music, they will wave their arms in praise. Yes, they will have a great time until they don’t. I think the community as a whole will be surprised to discover what they didn’t know about the events of Emmett’s life.”
The cast features Derrion Brown, James Carrington, Marques Causey, Allen Edge, Marvette Knight and Ericka Wade, each of whom plays multiple characters. In addition, a trio of instrumentalists—Brian Bauman (harmonica), Jahmes Finlayson (drums) and John Nicholson (guitar)—will provide live music ranging from Delta blues and doo-wop to echoes of black spirituals and African drums. “I knew from the start that I wanted no artificial sound for the production,” says Gobel. “All three musicians are incredibly accomplished and together add a richness to the play I could never have imagined.”
Gobel adds, “The Ballad of Emmett Till is an excellent way for youth to safely experience the social and political climate of the 1950s as it concerned the African American, and it reminds the more mature audience member of just how far we have come as a nation. This is a difficult event in American history to re-tell and re-hear. Still, we must be reminded if we are to continue to move forward.”
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
The Ballad of Emmett Till runs Oct. 23-Nov. 15 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Studio Theatre, 158 N. Broadway. For tickets, call 414-273-0800 or visit r-t-w.com.
Theatre Happenings:
Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents a staged reading of An Evening with Carl Sandburg, a one-actor show written and performed by Jonathan Gillard Daly, 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19 at the Broadway Theatre Center’s Skylight Bar & Bistro, 158 N. Broadway. Tickets are pay-what-you-can at the door. For more information, call 414-291-3773 or visit milwaukeechambertheatre.com.
Milwaukee Youth Theatre starts its 24th season with Number the Stars, a story about 10-year-old Annemarie who lives in Copenhagen, Denmark, during the Nazi occupation and becomes involved with the Danish freedom fighters. Show runs at 7 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 23 in the Lincoln Center of the Arts’ Ivory Hall, 820 E. Knapp St. For tickets, call 414-390-3900 or visit milwaukeeyouththeatre.org.
Arsenic and Old Lace tells a madcap story about Mortimer Brewster and how his marriage to his fiancé is waylaid due to his blood relatives’ peculiar hobbies and habits. See the show Oct. 23-Nov. 8 at Racine Theatre Guild, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.
Neil Labute’s Fat Pig revolves around Tom and his plus-sized girlfriend, Helen, and how they deal with the mocking and objections of Tom’s “friends.” This Carroll Players show runs on Friday, Oct 23 at 7 p.m., and on Saturday, Oct. 24 at 2 and 7 p.m. at Otteson Studio Theatre, 238 N. East Ave., Waukesha. Admission is free. To reserve seats, visit tickets.carrollu.edu.
UW-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts begins its Five-O-Eight Series with Macbeth set in 2020. Show runs Oct. 21-25 at the Five-O-Eight Studio, 1925 E. Kenilworth Place. For tickets, call 414-229-4308 or visit www4.uwm.edu.
Carthage College’s Stage Kiss, by Sarah Ruhl, is a romantic comedy about two actors whose stage kiss leads to a real one, Oct. 23-31 at Wartburg Auditorium in the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Natural and Social Sciences, 2001 Alford Park Drive, Kenosha. For tickets, call 262-551-6661 or visit carthage.edu.
Astor Hotel (924 E. Juneau Ave.) has revived its interactive murder mystery dinner shows and will host The Murder Mystery Company’s production of The Best Laid Plans on Friday, Oct. 23 at 7:30 p.m. For more information and tickets, call 414-283-4808 or visit astormilwaukee.com.Astor Hotel, The Murder Mystery Company, The Best Laid Plans
