Displaying items by tag: Emmett Till

Collaboraction Theatre Company announced today two major productions for its 2026-27 season: the world premiere of Chicago writer Willie Round’s Mud Life this fall, and the return of Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till in February.

“For our 31st season, at our House of Belonging, Collaboraction opens our chamber of change to Chicagoans to cultivate new knowledge, empathy, dialogue, and action with two plays by writing partners and Collaboraction Company Members, G. Riley Mills and Willie Round. One play is in the present. The other in the past. Both impact our future,” said Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley. “Mud Life, set in a worn down recording studio on Chicago’s West side and based on Willie's actual life, is a raw, revealing look at the hopes and dreams of escaping poverty and scarcity through music. The other is based on the heartbreak of Mamie Till-Mobley's life, an excavation of the once-erased courtroom proceeding where a mother and others risked their lives to confront and dismantle white hatred, changing us all, forever.”

Both productions will have multiweek runs at Collaboraction’s new House of Belonging, now anchoring the Kimball Arts Center, 1757 N. Kimball Ave. in Chicago’s Humboldt Park community. Tickets to both productions are already on sale at collaboraction.org.

First is the debut of Mud Life, a raw, intimate drama by and based on Chicago writer, rapper, producer and Collaboraction Company Member Willie Round’s experiences growing up on Chicago’s west side making music.

The plot spins around Anthony and Devontae, two aspiring hip-hop artists from Chicago’s North Lawndale community who are struggling to climb beyond their circumstances while creating music under the control of a manipulative strip-club owner. When an enigmatic outsider offers them a rare shot at escape, their loyalty fractures, and their bond is tested in ways that alter the course of their lives. 

Mud Life first entered Collaboraction’s orbit in 2019 as the seven-minute short play Broke Down Drone in Collaboraction’s Peacebook Festival. That experience spawned an award-winning short film of the same name. More recently, Round returned to the script, which received workshops and readings earlier this summer at both Bramble Theatre and Definition Theatre. 

Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley will direct Collaboraction’s world premiere of Mud Life. Martine Kei-Green Rogers, Dean, The Theatre School at DePaul University, is dramaturg.

Previews are Wednesday through Saturday, October 21-24 at 7:30 p.m. Performances run through November 15: Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm; Sunday at 3 p.m. Industry Night is Monday, November 2 at 7:30 p.m. No show Saturday, October 31. Tickets are $15-$50. 

Collaboraction’s season continues with the return of its critically acclaimed smash hit Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, February 3-March 14, 2027. Back by popular demand, Trial in the Delta is an unforgettable theatrical event that invites audiences to confront the truth, honor a legacy, and experience one of the greatest injustices of all time as if it were happening today.

On September 20, 1955, the trial of the men who murdered 12-year-old Emmett Till began in Sumner, Mississippi, and the world would never be the same. In this immersive, 90-minute live docudrama, Collaboraction transforms the long-buried trial transcript into a gripping theatrical experience that places audiences face-to-face with the people whose testimony spurred the civil rights movement. Actors seated among the audience rise to take the stand as witnesses for the prosecution and defense—including Mamie Till-Bradley—bringing raw, unfiltered history to life. The Chicago Reader called last year’s staging, the first production in Collaboraction’s new home in Humboldt Park, “a sharp reminder of how close the events of 70 years ago are to our own time.” The Chicago Tribune gave it 3-½ stars, noting it “makes plain the injustice of that moment.”

Collaboraction’s fourth remount of the award-winning Trial in the Delta, co-adapted by Willie Round and G. Riley Mills, co-directed by Anthony Moseley and Dana Anderson, will feature a powerhouse cast of returning artists, including NK Gutiérrez as Mamie Till-Bradley, along with new faces. 

Previews are Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, February 3-5 at 7:30 p.m. Opening Night is Saturday, February 6 at 7:30 p.m. Performances continue through March 15: Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. Each show will be followed by a short Crucial Conversation. Tickets are $20-$60. Twelve premium seats inside the jury box are sold at every show. Groups of 10 or more receive a 10% discount. Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call (312) 226-9633 for more information.

Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till is presented in partnership with The Emmett Till and Mamie Till-Mobley Institute, as part of the Till Life Matters Initiative. Thanks to this relationship, Trial in the Delta was showcased at The Till Institute’s Emmett Till’s 85th Birthday Commemorative Dinner on July 31, the first public gala at the new Obama Presidential Center.

Also on stage this season at Collaboraction

Collaboration’s new You Belong Here series is keeping the company’s home in Humboldt Park activated year round. 

You Belong Here provides a new platform for independent artists and groups at any stage in their career, with an emphasis on those who live in proximity to the Kimball Arts Center in Humboldt Park. Curated by company member Sandra Delgado, the series is meant to take the barriers out of self-producing by providing free space and equipment, stage management, marketing and PR support and a generous door split model. 

To illustrate, You Belong Here shows this August at Collaboraction include:

Bilingual Improv School’s ¡El Showcase!, Wednesday, August 12 at 7 p.m.

A night of hard-core dance music with Silver October’s HEARTFELT HARDCORE, Friday, August 14 at 8 p.m.

Darshita Jain and Ghutarghoo Productions’ literary reading series Roomani, Tuesday, August 25 at 6:30 p.m.

The People’s Pot & Pantry, serving free, healthy meals to Chicago’s performing arts community, Monday, August 24 at 4 p.m.

The hilarious comedy variety show Max and Binkey: The Funktion, Wednesday, August 26 at 7 p.m.

Bilingual Improv School’s Cómo Se Dice?, Friday, August 28 at 7:30 p.m.

That’s not all. Collaboraction Executive Director Darlene Jackson, aka DJ Lady D, continues to present her new monthly gathering series, The Frequency. Collaboraction’s youth ensemble The Luminaries continues to take over the stage once a month with its open mic night, Radiate.

And Collaboraction looks forward to being a new host site for the Chicago Latino Theater Alliance’s Destinos Festival this fall.

For tickets and more information about any of these shows, visit collaboraction.org. To submit a You Belong Here performance proposal, visit collaboraction.org/you-belong-here.

Note: Free and nearby street parking is available near the Kimball Arts Center. For CTA riders, the 82 Kimball-Homan bus stops right in front of the building. The theater is also a short walk from the Kimball stop on the 72 North and 73 Armitage bus lines. For bikers and pedestrians, the Kimball trailhead on The 606 leads directly to the Kimball Arts Center. 

About Collaboraction

Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2026, Collaboraction is an award-winning Chicago theater company that uses immersive, socially conscious performance to spark change and build equity. Across all platforms, Collaboraction uses its KEDA methodology - Knowledge, Empathy, Dialogue, and Action - to spark changes in behavior and attitudes that manifest social change.

Collaboraction’s past work includes NBC Chicago’s three-time Emmy Award-winning The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta, the resulting live stage play film, Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, live productions of Crime Scene, Moonset Sunrise, A Blue Island In the Red Sea, its annual Peacebook and Sketchbook festivals, and its youth ensembles, The Light and The Luminaries.

Collaboraction receives generous operating support and program funding from the Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, the Paul M. Angell Family Foundation, Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation, Gary Grube, the Lester and Hope Abelson Fund for the Performing Arts at the Chicago Community Trust, Naperville Rotary Club, Field Foundation, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency.

Collaboraction is led by Darlene Jackson, Chief Executive Officer and Executive Director; Anthony Moseley, Chief Programming Officer and Artistic Director; and a dedicated board, company members and staff.  For more information, visit collaboraction.org or follow Collaboraction on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube or TikTok.

As we drove away from Lifeline Theatre I asked my companion what she thought of From the Mississippi Delta. “I have no words yet,” she said. “I’m still just reveling in delight.”

This play is indeed delightful. Even when eleven-year-old Phelia is raped; even when she and Aunt Baby are squashing cockroaches; even when her own town shuns her – even these scenes manage to delight without ever compromising the gravity of the story.

And the best part is it’s all true! Dr Endesha Ida Mae Holland (1944-2006) wrote the play From the Mississippi Delta based on her memoir/autobiography of the same name (which you can purchase in the lobby). As author and as playwright, Dr. Holland, professor emeritus of theatre at University of Southern California, chronicles her journey from dirt-farm poverty and the brutality of 1950’s Jim Crow, enduring rape and prostitution before finding herself in civil rights activism. It took twenty years, but Dr Holland completed her bachelors, masters, and doctoral degrees at the University of Minnesota. From the Mississippi Delta is a testament to Holland’s perseverance, and to the myriad sheroes who encouraged and sustained her.

The play, brilliantly directed by Lifeline Theatre’s Artistic Director ILesa Duncan, includes dozens of characters, all played by the cast of three actors: LaKecia Harris, Arielle Leverett, and Jenise Sheppard, billed in the program as Woman 1, Woman 2, and Woman 3. Harris and Sheppard alternate playing Phelia while Leverett primarily represents her mother, Aunt Baby. Aunt Baby’s artistry as a midwife leads a local (white, male – of course) doctor to call her ‘the second doctor’. The scene in which she rotates and delivers a breech baby left me stunned.

The play begins with the women relating hideous vignettes, beginning with Emmett Till, and each account ends with the words ‘This is the Mississippi Delta. This is where I was born and grew up’. After a handful of stories, they begin singing “Trouble in Mind”; that’s when I fell under their spell. Throughout the play they brilliantly perform at least a dozen iconic selections from blues and spirituals. Music Director Ricky Harris and Sound Director Deon Custard collaborate to meld the music perfectly with the action and with external and peripheral sound effects. Harris’ decision to forego accompaniment or instrumentation is inspired, as the three magnificent voices are enriched by a capella performance.

FunFact of the Day:  the a capella genre originated with African Americans singing in African American barbershops: the original barbershop quartets.  

(Top to Bottom) Arielle Leverett as Woman 2, Jenise Sheppard as Woman 3, and LaKecia Harris as Woman 1; in Lifeline Theatre and Pegasus Theatre’s “From the Mississippi Delta.”

Scenic Designer Angela Weber Miller’s amazing multi-level set has several doors and other options for egress, which choreographer Tanji Harper makes adroit use of to allow the three actors to instill a phenomenal amount of detail into each scene. Props Designer Wendy Ann caches props and bits of costumery (designed by Gregory Graham) all about the set, allowing the actors to change character by simply donning an apron or shucking a hat. The sparse furniture onstage is just as versatile: an ironing board converts to a birthing bed and later becomes grandstand seats for Phelia’s debut as a stripper. The transformations are skillfully abetted by Lighting Designer Levi J Wilkins. Stage Manager Roxie Kooi stitches it all together into an amazing package for Production Manager Adi Davis.

Everything lately seems to need an Intimacy consultant – even the American Ballet Theatre recently used one for a pas de deux – and Gregory Geffrard keeps the actors on the good side of the fine line separating stimulating from stodgy. 

An African American deep-south accent is tough to pull off without sounding like Amos & Andy, so my hat’s off to Dialect Coach Shadana Patterson. Her job was made even tougher by the fact that white folks are notoriously challenged by African American dialects and accents. In fact, though I was encouraged to see the theatre more than 2/3-full, it was almost totally lacking Black faces, which I find both surprising and concerning.,

My melanin deficiency invalidates my opinion, but I’m going to give it anyway: I think African Americans, particularly Black women, would very much enjoy From the Mississippi Delta. It exposes the singular brutality lurking at the intersection of bigotry and misogyny. It is a testimonial to the strength and resilience of Black women, a hymn to the human spirit. 

Look -- if for no other reason, go for the music.  See From the Mississippi Delta and be transported by these three magnificent voices.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

The start of the civil rights movement was not Rosa Parks refusal to leave her seat on a bus. The civil rights movement started when the photo of 14-year-old Emmett Till, laying in his coffin beaten beyond recognition was graphically published on the cover of Jet Magazine for the world to bear witness. He was the victim of a heinous attack by brothers Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam.

“Trial in the Delta” is a reenactment of the trial held at the Tallahatchie County courthouse in Sumner, Mississippi on September 23, 1955. This reenactment took 2 hours thanks to the laborious job of paring down 5 days of actual court transcripts into a cohesive 2-hour production. The adaptation by G. Riley Mills and Willie Round was sharp and concise making the arguments of both sides extremely clear.

It had to be difficult directing a production where everyone knows the outcome and keep it fresh and new, yet this is exactly what the directing team of Dana N. Anderson and Anthony Moseley accomplished. They made the audience spectators to this miscarriage of justice. They never took the easy road of playing on emotions. They went for words that were spoken they went for intent. They were aided by a spectacular cast.

Although their backs were to the audience most of the time, the body language of JW Milam (Matt Miles) and Roy Bryant (Tyler Burke) spoke volumes. There were times I couldn’t take my eyes off them. Prosecutor Gerald Chatham (Andy Luther) pushed and pleaded knowing it was all in vain while Defense Atty. JJ Breland (Steve Silver) played verbal gymnastics with the witnesses knowing he had the upper hand. All the witnesses that took the stand had different perspectives. I felt the fear of Moses Wright (Darren Jones) as he pointed. Undertaker Chester Miller (Lyle Miller) was dignified as his profession required. The testimony that gripped me was Carolyn Bryant (Maddy Brown).  It was alarming. The work that Carolyn Bryant put into that story and the way Maddie Brown brought that story to life made me pinch myself. I realized this is a tactic that’s been around forever, and it still works. The way Bryant/Brown weaponized her tears broke my heart. It was evident this trial was over, and these men would be free. Mamie Bradley (Kayla Franklin) remained stoic thru all the proceeding even when was her turn to take the stand. Her last speech is powerful.

Looking at the program for this production, I noticed there are major people in the theatre community associated with this production and it shows. DuSable Museum, while not my favorite place to see a play, made this production work. The set is a maple wood courtroom. To the left of the witness box are 12 empty seats. The Jury…..12 White men.  Whenever the jury came or left the courtroom, we see a projection of 12 white men entering of leaving and we hear their footsteps. There are maple bannisters separating the Attorneys from the spectators.

Witnesses are seated throughout the audience and as they are called walk up to the witness stand and are sworn in.

This production is an example of how systemic racism works and as such would not be shown in Florida. Governor Ron DeSantis has signed into law the Stop-Woke (Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees) Act, which prohibits educational institutions and businesses from teaching students and employees anything that would cause anyone to feel guilt, anguish or any form of psychological distress due to their race, color, sex or national origin. I’m sure this production was not created to cause any undo harm or guilt. This is not only African American history, but also American History.

When: Through February 19th - 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday

Where: DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center, 740 E. 56th Pl.

Tickets: $30-$55

Info: Collaboraction.org