Xenia Theater presents dramatic ‘Face of Emmett Till’
In August 1955 while visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi, 14-year-old Chicago native Emmett Till was gruesomely murdered and thrown into the Tallahatchie River for allegedly whistling at 21-yearold Carolyn Bryant, the white wife of a local grocery store owner.
When Emmett’s mother, Mamie, decided to have an open-casket funeral, revealing the shockingly brutality of his death for all to see, his legacy was forever engrained into America’s moral conscience.
In Mamie Till-Mobley and David Barr III’s 2003 drama “The Face of Emmett Till,” continuing its Ohio premiere through Sunday, Feb. 23, at Xenia Area Community The- ater, Emmett’s story is told from Mamie’s perspective. In addition to providing a his- torical account of the events surrounding Emmett’s death, which raised awareness of racial injustices in the South and helped ignite the Civil Rights Movement, the play spotlights Mamie’s courage, faith and resilience. She passed away in January 2003 at age 81.
“We all know the name Emmett Till, but not many of us know the name Mamie TillMobley,” said director Joyce Barnes, member of XACT Board of Directors. “This play is really her story.
“She received a lot of criti- cism for leaving Emmett’s casket open, which came from white southerners who were not inclined to give her much credibility anyway. But she also received pushback from the NAACP, which comes across very strongly in the play. I was not aware of the conten- tious relationship between her and the NAACP. While she was going around the country
Yvette Watson (left, as Alma Spearman) and Mendu Khanyile (Mamie Till) appear in Xenia Area Community Theater’s Ohio premiere of Mamie Till-Mobley and David Barr III’s drama “The Face of Emmett Till,” continuing through Feb. 23.
making speeches in order to keep Emmett’s story alive and seek justice, she saw the big- ger picture of the atrocities being committed against young black men. She wanted to be a part of the solution. While suffering grief, she was terribly harassed. And even within the black community, there were some who thought she was just trying to seek celeb- rity when in reality she was trying to work for change.”
The production is co-pre- sented by the National Afro- American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce. A contextual pop-up exhibit curated by the museum is on display, particularly centered on the social justice relevance of the deaths of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner and John Craw- ford III, among others.
The large cast includes Mendu Khanyile as Mamie, Bendali Eugene as Emmett Till, Yvette M. Watson as Alma Spearman, Vincent Moorman as Henry Spearman, Ronnie Copeland as Mose Wright, Olivia Ekler as Carolyn Bryant, Carter Hume as Roy Bryant, John Lawson as J.W. Milam,
Charlotte Harris as Rosa Parks/ Reporter, Trenton Spencer as Roy Wilkins, Daria Dillard Stone as Mahalia Jackson, Edith Waugh as Senator James Eastland/Judge Swango, Amanda Walton as John Whitten, Matthew Benefiel as Gerald Chatham, Troy Reaves as Maurice, Eberechukwu S. Cooper as Willie Reed/A.A. Raynor, Marceia Cornwell as Musician/Man at the Party, Timothy Hall-Norman as Man at the Party, Kyle Mercuri as Mrs. Burke/Juanita Milam, Dawn Andrews and Marquesha Martin as Chorus, and R.J. Geier as Understudy for Mrs. Burke.
“With this production, we want to portray how normal, how happy, the Tills were,” Barnes said. “This tragic event didn’t happen to a poor, trou- bled family trapped in (unfor- tunate) circumstances, but a normal American middle-class black family. I think we tend to sort of distance ourselves from these kinds of tragedies by thinking it could never hap- pen to anyone we know or to ourselves. I want people to connect to this family on a human level and sympathize.
HOW TO GO
What:“The Face of Emmett Till”
Where: Xenia Area Community Theater, 45 E. Second St., Xenia
When: Through Feb. 23; 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday; 3 p.m. Sunday
Cost: $17 general admission; $15.30 XACT members; $14 seniors, students and military; $7 children 12 and under
Tickets: Call (937) 3720516 or visit xeniaact.org
FYI: Doors opens one hour before each performance to give attendees an opportunity to view XACT’s cultural arts in the Coterel Gallery, including the museum’s exhibit containing additional historical facts about Emmett Louis Till. Ticketholders will also receive a special program insert, an essay written exclusively for this production by playwright David Barr III.
“This play is somewhat brutal at times, but we hope people will understand that situations like this do not have to continue. As humans, we can approach each other with love and without fear. We can work together to eradicate this kind of hatred and violence against people simply for who they are, which applies not only to African-Americans but any targeted groups such as the LGBTQ+ community, the Jewish community, and others who some feel do not deserve to be treated equally in this country.”