Dael Orlandersmith will discuss the streaming Until the Flood at live online talk December 2 (photo by Robert Altman / courtesy Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, 2018)
Who: Dael Orlandersmith, Sherman Fleming, James King
What: Live discussion about Until the Flood
Where: All Arts Facebook, YouTube
When: Wednesday, December 2, free with RSVP, 4:00
Why: In January 2018, Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith presented her one-woman show Until the Flood at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. In the play, which was originally commissioned by the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Orlandersmith portrays eight composite characters in relating the tragic story of the killing of Michael Brown at the hands of police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, on August 9, 2014; Orlandersmith traveled to Ferguson and interviewed dozens of people to understand the incident from every possible angle, creating Black retired schoolteacher Louisa Hemphill (70s), white retired policeman Rusty Harden (75), Black teen Hassan (17), white high school teacher Connie Hamm (35), Black barber Reuben Little (late 60s/early 70s), white landowner and electrician Dougray Smith (late 30s/early 40s), Black high school student Paul (17), and Black minister Edna Lewis (late 50s/early 60s), who share their thoughts on racism, anger, violence, poverty, fear, bigotry, liberalism, protest, privilege, education, and other social issues. Orlandersmith delivers each monologue in a different costume (by Kaye Voyce) on Takeshi Kata’s open set centered by a chair she often uses, with a burst of interstitial projections (by Nick Hussong) between scenes.
A recorded version of Until the Flood, directed by Neel Keller, is currently streaming for free at All Arts TV into 2023. On December 2 at 4:00, Orlandersmith (Yellowman, Forever) will be joined by Philly-based performance artist Sherman Fleming for a live Zoom talk moderated by All Arts artistic director James King, discussing the power of art and Until the Flood, placing the work in context of the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the pandemic lockdown; admission is free with RSVP. The event is presented in partnership with ACT Theatre, Center Theatre Group, Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Portland Center Stage, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, and Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.