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Behind the Scenes with Nambi E. Kelley of The Ballad of Emmett Till

Every Monday, Nambi takes us behind the scenes in the process of getting this world premiere production on stage. She'll share all the surprises, sensational stories, absurdities and wonders of the rehearsal process, opening night and the experience of performing this searing play night after night.

• May 19, 2008 - Joy...Laughter...Emmett.
• May 12, 2008 - This Week at a Glance...
• May 5, 2008 - The Audience Factor
• April 28, 2008 - My Theater Family and Tech
• April 21, 2008 - The Imaginary World Meeting the Reality World
• April 14, 2008 - On Character
• April 7, 2008 - On the Shoulders of Emmett Till

May 19, 2008 - Joy...Laughter...Emmett.

The process is not yet over. We still have two weeks left of the show's run, but our time together in the blogosphere has drawn to a close. Sigh.

During this past week of the run we saw some, ahem, unexpected growth in our show.

As actors, we are always in the spirit of play and with that playful spirit means that even the most serious scenes that you see onstage are secretly wrought with practical jokes, silliness and some actors trying to make other actors laugh.

Sorry fellow actors for giving up our stage secrets, but here it goes:

This week, Cliff Chamberlain's character Judge Curtis M. Swango developed a ridiculous throaty cough that is strangely reminiscent of someone with TB. At any given moment when he does this cough in the courtroom scene, you can look around the stage and see several actors trying not to break into a grin.

Brian McCaskill is our very own Jerry Seinfeld offstage. Onstage, he has taken to making his candy man character in Act 1 into a kooky, silly man who excitedly waves and winks to Emmett and his friends.

Morocco Omari (Wheeler Parker) is a nut during the porch scenes in Act 1 with his running ad-lib jokes about how Sammy's boots could kill someone. During the courtroom scenes, look his way and see if he's up to mischief. Nine times out of 10, he is.

I haven't witnessed it first-hand, but I hear that during the courtroom scene, Kirk Anderson (Attorney J.J. Breeland) and Cliff Chamberlain (Roy Bryant/Judge Curtis M. Swango) have a running joke that they are trying to rush through the trial so they can go fishing.

Sully (J.W. Milam/Sheriff Strider) is the worst of all, leaving Cliff crazy notes in his cigarette pack to try to get him to break character during the play.

Maybe none of this stuff sounds very funny to you, but when working on a play that is so intense, we gotta do something to keep our sanity!

Eight shows a week of hearing "Die Nigguh Die" is not easily digested or discarded when it comes down to it. By Monday, I am so exhausted that I can barely get out of bed-and I only have a small part in the play. I can only imagine how the actors with larger parts must feel.

Laughter makes this process bearable. Laughter makes us able to do our jobs without taking into our spirits the devastating ugliness of this play's historical reality.

-Nambi E. Kelley

May 12, 2008 - This Week at a Glance...

Opening was good, fun, high energy with lots of unexpected things—most notably, Emmett's friends and family members, Wheeler Parker, Heluise Woods and Simeon Wright, being brought on stage for our opening-night curtain call.

Of course they received a standing ovation.

We tried our best to honor them and to share the beautiful parts of Emmett's life. I hope they feel that we succeeded.

Our director, Oz, is gone now. So is Ifa. We are no longer in rehearsals, and we're just running the show.

Now it is time to really buckle down and do the day-to-day work of being an actor: being present in the moment, bringing truth and spontaneity to your lines and your character. If you're lucky, you continue to grow and to build moments with other actors on stage. The show becomes richer, fuller and even more beautiful as each day passes.

Last week, we had the good fortune of presenting our show for the Student Subscription Series high-school audiences.

None of the nuance and beauty of the show was lost on the students. If anything, the high school audiences were more in tune, more receptive and more deeply affected by the play than any other audience.

This was made evident by the students' questions for the actors. Their questions ran the gamut, but what struck me most was the questions they asked the Caucasian actors about what it is like to play their characters, to live those lives and to perpetrate such violence. "Are you afraid that you actually have that inside you?" one student asked.

Chris "Sully" Sullivan (J.W. Milam/Sheriff Strider) remarked that when he goes home at night, his girlfriend and his friends tell him that he seems different. Although playing the role of J.W. Milam takes a toll on Chris, he is clear that he isn't his character. But playing the role is exhausting.

Cliff Chamberlain (Roy Bryant/Judge Curtis M. Swango) said he actually leaves the theater with his head down so people don't feel obligated to tell him he had a good show. How do you congratulate someone for a job well done when he's playing the guy who murders Emmett Till?

My alma mater, Von Steuben, was in the audience as well. After the talkback, my high school drama teacher, Ellen O'Keefe, remarked, "This is the second time I've seen this show. I'm just bawling my eyes out. The kids got it."

They got it.

I'm thankful that people "get it." I'm thankful that they understand the horrific nature of what happened to this darling boy called Emmett. I hope they celebrate him too; that they remember his laughter, his smile, his beautiful eyes and the purest parts of him. I hope they get that too.

-Nambi E. Kelley

May 5, 2008 - The Audience Factor

My mom is home now. In fact, Sunday, May 4 was her birthday, and we got to share it with her—how wonderful! Thank you to my virtual family for all of your prayers and well-wishes. Thank you.

This week, we were still in rehearsals during the day and running the show at night. Then we'd do it all over again the next day: more rehearsals, more notes, more changes, then shows.

Tonight, May 5, is our opening night. By this point we've done about 8 eight previews, and we're getting a pretty good feel for the audience.

But it baffles my mind when we come out after the show and there are literally hordes of people standing there waiting for us. We meet patrons who have questions and who want to share their recollections and memories of Emmett. John Wesley (who plays Mose Wright and B.J. Washington) met an elderly woman after the show who had actually purchased Mose Wright's home, where Emmett was last seen alive by his family. Then there are patrons who leave the theater angry, or with emotions that they can't even describe.

The story of Emmett Till is so personal, so powerful, so interconnected for so many Americans who are still alive that I feel almost like we, as the cast, are a healing salve for them. In a weird kind of way, they finally get to express their deepest feelings about what happened to Emmett Till and how it changed their lives. The actors become their outlet, people they can touch and hold and look in the eye and say, "I knew Emmett," or, "My mother took me to the funeral procession," or "I remember when the white men admitted to killing Emmett in an article in Look Magazine, and 'til this day I carry that shame in my heart." Those are just some of the comments that I've heard from audience members who've talked to me after the shows throughout this week.

It just makes me realize all over again how important this play is. People are coming to see the show in search of answers to questions and hurt that they've carried silently in their hearts for more than 50 years.

Ifa has done an amazing thing by writing this play. I hope that you are healed in some way when you witness it. And if the play opens up anything inside you that you need to express, grab any one of us from the cast and talk about it. Please.

Wish us many broken legs tonight!

-Nambi E. Kelley

April 28, 2008 - My Theater Family and Tech

Let me tell you about tech.

For four straight days, we work 10 to 12 hour days. On Day 1 we start at the top of the show. The process is layering in lights, sound, costumes, props and set. We may do a particular moment of the show 15 times before it is what the director wants. By the end of the first day, if you're lucky, you will have teched through most of the first act. We were not so lucky. We only got through about 15 minutes of the show. Day 2 is more of the same tedious inch-by-inch layering of the show. By Day 3, you're hopefully able to finish teching most of the show. By Day 4, the great hope is that you've teched and run the entire show.

And in the middle of all of that, real life things still happen.

This week on Day 3 of our tech, I had just gotten home and laid down to sleep for about two hours when I was awakened by my mother wheezing. She whispered to me, "Call an ambulance." I did. She was raced to the emergency room. Now, she is in the ICU at a hospital in Evanston. The prognosis: congestive heart failure. At first, I wasn't going to breathe a word of it to anyone. Tech is always stressful, let alone when real-life stuff hits. But people could read my face, my body… I was distracted, worried, at times angry and entirely too sensitive.

On top of all that, Ifa decided to rewrite one of my scenes, so I had to memorize all these new lines!

But let me tell you why the theater is so beautiful. Throughout the four weeks of rehearsal, the cast literally becomes like family, and like family, if you're lucky, they are there for you when seemingly insurmountable things happen. John Wesley was the first to put his arms around me and let me cry. Deidrie generously held my hand and wiped my tears. Oz told me I could leave rehearsal to go back to the hospital if I wanted. Joseph called me to let me know he was praying for my mom and my family. Kristina, Karen and Morocco all hugged me, gave me reassuring pats and let me know they were there for me. Sam and Kirk gently inquired how my mom was progressing. And Phillip, Symphony, Karen and Kristina helped me memorize those new lines until I was saying them in my sleep.

Tech is over now. We had our first three previews, and we learned so much about the show. My mom is still in ICU. But at least when I leave her at the hospital and come to work at the Goodman, I know there is an extension of her right there with me-my theater family-holding my hand, keeping me safe and smiling, reassuring me that all will be okay. Thanks guys for holding me up this week.

-Nambi E. Kelley

April 21, 2008 - The Imaginary World Meeting the Reality World

We have spent four weeks in rehearsal. Four weeks of telling a very real story using an imaginary set marked on the rehearsal floor by tape, faux props and even a secret stage floor-which I won't tell you about because I don't want to spoil the surprise!

But on Thursday, we had the unprecedented good fortune of meeting two of Emmett's family members…yes, in real life! Heluise Woods, a childhood friend of Emmett's, and Wheeler Parker, one of Emmett's cousins who was with him in the store and in the house the night Emmett was abducted.

Wow.

Ifa opened the occasion with a very moving and impromptu speech, and it was one of those moments where there are no words to describe the emotion and fullness that were present in the room. She spoke about the world of her imagination being manifested through the production, and the reality of what happened to Emmett manifested through his living relatives. She spoke of how privileged she felt to finally "marry" the two worlds.

There were tears in her eyes as she spoke. Her passion, so authentic and focused on her goal to tell this story, was humbling and inspiring. It was truly one of life's perfect moments, when everything is just as it should be-still, centered, balanced. It was the coming together of…well…imagination and reality.

Mr. Parker was exceptionally candid and to the point. Most of all, he hadn't lost his sense of humor, sharing anecdotes and retellings that made you feel a special kind of privilege. He wasn't sharing his story with a reporter or in a documentary. He was looking you in the eye, telling you his truth.

The most uncomfortable moment in the gathering was when Ifa introduced the actors playing the characters who were directly responsible for Emmett's death. The energy in the room suddenly shifted into an unexpected, unchartered, cautious feeling. Both Ms. Woods and Mr. Parker were as receptive and generous as they had been with the rest of the cast, but the discomfort was there. Then, like mist, it vanished back into the previous perfection. Whew. Glad that's over.

At the end of the event, Mr. Parker reached out to give me a hug goodbye. As he did, I thought to myself, "Wow, I'm being touched by history." We all got to touch history that day. Again, wow.

I'm humbled and completely honored.

Next week we go into tech and have our first public performance. Wish us many broken legs.

-Nambi E. Kelley

April 14, 2008 - On Character

"Screeching like a voice from hell," are the words of Caroline (Carolyn) Bryant as scripted by our playwright-and historically, Caroline's voice could very well be considered a voice from hell, given that her interpretation of what happened between her and Emmett Till in Bryant's Market led directly to Emmett's murder. We've spent a lot of time this week working on the scenes in Movement 3: the trial of Emmett's murderers, Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. I don't say much in these scenes, so I have the luxury of watching.

A few days ago, I was scanning the room and my eyes happened upon Caroline, played by Kristina Johnson. The look in her eyes shook me to my very core. It was a look mixed with terror, disdain and strangely, compassion. I decided to check in on Caroline often during the trial scene, and found that every day she experiences a myriad of emotions. Sometimes she is perched lady-like, upright on the edge of her seat with her legs crossed gently. Other times she sits slumped back in her chair looking strangely adolescent, her knees knocked in, her body clearly exhausted from the trial and the Mississippi heat. One day, she looks on smugly as she listens to Emmett's uncle's testimony. Watching that same testimony the next day, she's literally fighting back tears.

Her specificity is remarkable and her layers, intriguing. When she says "that's the one" as she points to Emmett, I see a tired young mother of two very young children, a wife who was pissed off that she had to run the store that fateful day because her husband was away and a wanna-be beauty queen who really wishes she was someplace else. I really see, feel and experience Caroline.

Kristina isn't the only actor doing amazingly specific and detailed character work, but since the first day of rehearsal, I've been particularly intrigued with her journey. Kristina could just play the "idea" of this Southern beauty queen, without ever finding depth or humanity in the person she is portraying, but Kristina does not settle. Her Caroline is so rich, so layered and so beautifully flawed and human.

I can't imagine that the real Carolyn Bryant, who is still living, has as much humanity. But the truth is: she really is someone's mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, auntie, friend…in spite of what her actions inspired.

I have Kristina to thank for helping me to see that.

-Nambi E. Kelley

April 7, 2008 - On the Shoulders of Emmett Till

It's the end of week two of rehearsal. On Saturday, April 5, we celebrated cast mate Kirk Anderson's (Attorney J.J. Breeland/Elmer Kimbrell) birthday…with cake! Thank you, Kelly Ann (our company manager who provided this feast from heaven!). As is the new tradition for black people everywhere when celebrating birthdays, we sang the standard "Happy Birthday" song, then burst into a rendition of Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday," which, of course, was written to help make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a national holiday.

...Dr. King...

On Friday, April 4, 2008, we commemorated as a nation the 40-year anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. On the "el" to rehearsal that day, my brain was swelling with thoughts of Dr. King, Emmett Till and the civil rights movement. I wondered if we would do anything to commemorate this day. In rehearsal for a play about Emmett Till, whose death essentially sparked the civil rights movement, it seemed quite appropriate to have some sort of collective remembrance.

Morocco Omari (Wheeler Parker/Dr. T.M.R. Howard/H.L. Loggins) suggested that we should get together as a cast that night for Cuban food. At first I was resistant. By the end of the day, I really just wanted to go home, light a candle and watch all the 40-year anniversary stuff that was sure to be on Anderson Cooper...and, ahem, learn my lines, of course. I reluctantly decided to go.

Nearly our entire cast, our director, Oz Scott, and our playwright, Ifa Bayeza, sat down together at a little Cuban restaurant just west of downtown. As I looked around the table, it struck me that this is Dr. King's dream. We are it. It's blonde-haired Kristina Johnson (Caroline Bryant) and chocolate-skinned Phillip James Brannon (Maurice Wright/Too Tight Collins/Willie Reed), old storytelling Oz and young, bright-eyed Corey Marshaun Cantrell (U/S Simeon Wright) sharing laughter and humanity while exchanging their hearts over a bottle(s) of red wine and Cuban-style plantains. What better way to celebrate Dr. King's life than to be in community with these extraordinary human beings and break bread? Seeing the joy in everyone's faces around that table made me realize that commemorating Dr. King is not about lighting candles or watching Anderson's 360-degree opinions about "the dream," but it is very simply, actively living it.

That's what we did that night. We lived the dream, if even only a piece of it.

I often think about how we stand on the shoulders of those who came before us-certainly we as a people stand on the shoulders of Dr. King. It was only when looking around that table that I realized something even more profound...

Dr. King stood on the shoulders of Emmett Till.

Nambi E. Kelley