Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till

Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till

Help Collaboraction shine a light on one of the greatest injustices in the American legal system by creating a powerful new theatre production and film of a once-missing historic piece of the Civil Rights movement. In doing so, we aim to incite change and address the inequity and injustice of our current legal system.

Support Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, a world premiere theatre production and the first artistic work adapted from the newly released transcripts of the trial of the State of Mississippi V. J.W. Milman and Roy Bryant, the men who murdered Emmett Till. The funds raised will go towards the costs of the theatrical reading in February 2022, the full production in 2023 and filming the production for a video of the entire trial.

The murder of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955 brought national attention to the racial violence and injustice prevalent in the deep south. While on a trip from his hometown, Chicago, to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi, Till went to the Bryant store with his cousins, and may have whistled at Carolyn Bryant, a white woman.

Her husband, Roy Bryant, and brother-in-law, J.W. Milam, kidnapped and brutally murdered Till, dumping his body in the Tallahatchie River. The newspaper coverage and murder trial galvanized a generation of young African Americans to join the Civil Rights Movement out of fear that such an incident could happen to friends, family, or even themselves. The official court transcript of the trial was never properly filed and remained missing until a copy made its way to the FBI in 2006. However, this critical piece of the history of the Civil Rights Movement has not been publicly explored and this production is the first known adaptation of the transcript to the stage and screen.

Collaboraction has commissioned playwright team G. Riley Mills and Willie Round (both Collaboraction company members) to develop this new work. Trial in the Delta draws for the first time from the actual courtroom transcripts and is fully rooted in history, with strong connections to current events. Trial in the Delta will offer a new, authentic account of one of the most monumental injustices of the U.S. legal system in the 20th century. The immersive production will feature 27 actors, including witnesses sitting within the audience, and the set will replicate the actual courtroom. The production will be directed by Collaboraction company members Anthony Moseley and Dana N. Anderson.

A developmental immersive performance will be held at, and in partnership with, The DuSable Museum of African American History February 26-27, 2022. A long running, full length production will follow in February 2023 with special performances for students.

Trial in the Delta plays like a reenactment of the actual court proceedings that played out in Sumner, Mississippi in 1955. Key characters, based on real life, include presiding judge Curtis Swango, defense attorney J. J. Breeland, district attorney Gerald Chatham, and, of course, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant, the two men who were found not guilty of murdering Emmett Till, but later admitted to the heinous crime. Actors portraying witnesses for the defense and prosecution, including Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Bradley and other family members, will be seated among the audience, bringing the courtroom action to vivid life in a documentary-style setting.

The longstanding disappearance of the transcript and most of the courthouse documentation is one of the great mysteries of a case that helped galvanize the civil rights movement and continues to garner worldwide attention a half-century later. Its absence would be more than a historical curiosity. It could also hamstring efforts to further prosecute the case. In 2005, a copy of the transcript surfaced and made its way to the F.B.I and led to reopening the case. Hopes, however, were dashed when the Department of Justice closed the case again without bringing justice.

“There are many plays about Emmett Till, but they are fictions created out of horrid facts that only guess at the actual language. This production is the first known public theatrical exploration of the transcript. When audiences experience how everything actually went down in that Mississippi courtroom, the impact is even more disturbing,” said Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley.

“Trial in the Delta allows contemporary audiences to experience this flagrant and historic racial injustice of our legal system,” said Perri Irmer, President and CEO, The DuSable Museum of African American History, “Placed in the context of today's much-publicized trials against Black men, this new work also illuminates ways in which history repeats itself.”

About Collaboraction

Collaboraction incites social change through original devised theatre and community engagement that cultivates knowledge, dialogue and action around Chicago's most critical social issues.

A 25 year old organization, led by a staff and board diverse in ethnicity, ability, gender, and background, Collaboraction creates social change through cultivating diverse artistic voices to create live and virtual performances on topics of social justice. These performances are developed by, in, and shared with south and west side communities underserved by Chicago’s vaunted theatre industry. The work is followed by a Crucial Conversation where the audience is welcomed to be in moderated dialogue on topics in the art. Art is a gateway to connect and grow knowledge and empathy, and these conversations connect the art to individuals’ lived experiences, activate audiences beyond the event and inspire change in areas of inequity and oppression.

All of Collaboraction’s work is produced through socially just processes. This includes centering diversity, equity, access, and inclusion within the work, uplifting and supporting artists from marginalized and oppressed communities, and paying artists, staff, and all workers equitably and within a living wage in Cook County, among other social justice practices.

More information on Collaboraction is at www.collaboraction.org

About the Artists

G. Riley Mills and Willie Round (co-creators, co-producers and writers; both he/him) are a creative team with collaborations that span various mediums, including film, theater and music. Their acclaimed play Lift Every Voice was published by Dramatic Publishing and has been produced at schools and theaters across the country. Their play Broke Down Drone was first produced by Collaboraction at Kennedy-King College (directed by J. Nicole Brooks), and a subsequent virtual production was produced by Fehinty African Theatre Ensemble. In 2021, Broke Down Drone enjoyed a sold-out Off-Broadway run at the Chain Theatre in New York City under the direction of Anthony Moseley. The film version of Broke Down Drone is currently in pre-production and will be directed by award-winning filmmaker Marquis Simmons. Mills and Round continue to be actively involved in mentoring youth from underserved communities in Chicago.

Anthony Moseley (co-director, he/him) has been the Artistic Director of Collaboraction since 1999, using theater as a tool of knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action. Through this work, Moseley has commissioned and collaborated with thousands of artists to build a more equitable future for Chicago through projects including Sketchbook Festival, Peacebook, Encounter and The Light youth theater festival. As a writer/director he created Crime Scene: a Chicago Anthology and its four sequels, This is Not a Cure For Cancer, Connected and A Blue Island in the Red Sea. Since the pandemic, Anthony has led Collaboraction’s push to create over 70 pieces of digital programming including directing Oh Colonizers by Carla Stillwell, Encounter Englewood and producing and co-hosting Becoming and Crucial Connections on Collaboraction’s Together Network In 2018, Collaboraction was honored with a Comcast/Ovation Stand for the Arts Award and an Otto Award for “ground-breaking political theater and in 2019 Collaboraction won a Multi-racial Unity Award. Anthony is directing Trial in the Delta: the Murder of Emmett Till with Dana N. Anderson.

Dana N. Anderson (co-director, she/her) ​​is a Chicago-based performing artist, writer and producer. Her experience spans on-camera, stage, voiceover and dance. She is dedicated to creating and performing in work that sparks dialogue and action for the betterment of society. In early 2018 Anderson wrote and performed her first theater production, Soul in Suburbia, a short stage play about Chicagoland as seen through the lens of a black family settling in 1980s suburbia. Produced by Chicago’s Theater for Social Change, Collaboraction, the play made such a buzz that she was invited to develop the short into a full-length show for the company’s 2019 season. Alongside her artistic endeavors, Anderson is the founder and president of Concrete Runway, Inc., a boutique multicultural media and talent relations agency. On March 30, 2021, Anderson released her debut poetry ensemble, the book “Cries From Quarantine: Poems About Love” and its spoken word companion album “CFQ: The Gallery Remixes” available on all online bookstores and digital streaming platforms. The album is in collaboration with musical artists from her global creative collective, PNTGLLRYNTWRK. danananderson.com