(EDITOR’S NOTE: I recently applied and was added to the online mailing list for WASHINGTON CITY PAPER, to which I became addicted years ago when it was published as a printed newspaper. Back then, it provided its readers with excellently written articles and commentaries — and it still does as an online publication — that I enjoyed reading. Here’s an article by Sarah Marloff in today’s CITY PAPER online.)
WASHINGTON, D.C., Sept. 29, 2022 — Joy probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind when you think of Emmett Till, the 14-year-old Black boy whose brutal, inhumane lynching in 1955 helped fire the Civil Rights Movement. But a new trilogy of work, by playwright Ifa Bayeza, seeks to expand on Till’s impact and legacy. Throughout the three plays that make up The Till Trilogy—including That Summer in Sumner, which makes its world premiere in D.C. on Oct. 6—Bayeza, and director Talvin Wilks, seek to reinfuse Till’s story with the Black boy joy that animated his short life.
Wilks, who also directed the 2018 world premiere of Bayeza’s Benevolence, the second part of the trilogy, tells City Paper contributor Jared Strange that embracing Till’s joy is crucial to the three-part opus: “It’s giving him his adolescence back, seeing him as a joyful child who loved to tell jokes, loved bubble gum, loved nice things, and was quite a dresser. We know the end at the beginning, so the point of Ballad is to give him that joy back.”
The ambitious project, years in the making, finally comes to D.C. two years after it was originally scheduled to debut. Opening on Tuesday, Oct. 4, for the first time ever, all three plays that make up The Till Trilogy will be staged in repertory, with a company of 10 actors, at Mosaic Theatre Company. (Audiences can catch the plays in any order or see one on its own.)
But, because both Bayeza and Mosaic’s Artistic Director Reginald L. Douglas believe art and activism should act in unity with one another, the Trilogy production anchors a sprawling series of free events dedicated to honoring Till’s legacy, with discussions and readings taking place in museums, community centers, and libraries across the D.C. metro area. It’s not just about re-examining and remembering the past, but preparing for a better future.
For more insight into the making and impact of The Till Trilogy, read Strange’s full article online and see other articles in CITY PAPER at https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGqQmQvBSTFMNxprxkfPHwXMqbh?compose=new
