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Why The Ballad of Emmett Till?
The facts of Emmett Till’s murder have become a horrifying part of Chicago history and folklore. On a sweltering Mississippi morning in the summer of 1955, Emmett Till, a 14-year-old Chicago native who was visiting his relatives, was kidnapped from the rural home of his uncle. His crime? An allegedly “improper” advance to a young white female store clerk. His punishment? He was tortured and beaten to death, then submerged in the Tallahatchie River, weighted down by a fan from a cotton gin. Recovered three days later, his body was recognizable only by a ring engraved with the initials of his father. At the insistence of his mother Mamie, Emmett’s brutalized remains were displayed in an open casket at his funeral, and the photographs of his body provided indelible proof of vicious racial bigotry to a nation on the brink of the tumultuous struggle for civil rights that would define the 1960s and beyond.
Fifty years later, the tragedy of Emmett Till has lost none of its currency, and has assumed an emotional and political significance of almost mythic proportions. Ifa Bayeza’s extraordinary new play, The Ballad of Emmett Till, investigates both the legend and the reality of Emmett’s story. It provides an achingly human look at the central figures in the case and a vibrant exploration of the mythology that has evolved from it, encapsulating the social, political and personal struggles of the African American community in the ensuing five decades. Although its roots are in Chicago, Bayeza’s play addresses universal concerns: the struggle for justice in an unjust society; the re-examination of our past as it informs our present and future; and the power of contemporary myth as a guide for societal and personal evolution. Informed by a documentary authenticity that is at once moving and fascinating (the author has spent a number of years interviewing the survivors of the incident), The Ballad of Emmett Till is much more than that: it is an emotionally and theatrically ambitious work that forces us to examine our own lives and actions through the prism of an epoch-defining moment in history.
The Ballad of Emmett Till first came to Goodman Theatre via a staged reading at our 2006 New Stages Festival, where it elicited uncommonly strong audience response. It is an eminently timely play, which speaks directly to the core values that define the Goodman: diversity, artistic excellence and community. It is a play that deserves to be seen by as wide an audience as possible; therefore, it is with great pride that we bring the world premiere of this stunning new work to the Albert Theatre.
Robert Falls
Artistic Director, Goodman Theatre