Soon after the killing, in August 2014, of black teenager Michael Brown by a white police officer, actor/playwright Dael Orlandersmith traveled to Ferguson, Missouri to interview townspeople about the tragic occurrence. Now she has used this research to put together a one-person show, Until the Flood, which is on tap at the Kirk Douglas Theater and directed by Neel Keller. Orlandersmith, a commanding presence on stage, impersonates a wide range of locals who felt strongly about the shooting (which led to protests, riots, a state of emergency, and a Justice Department investigation). Those locals included a schoolteacher, a 70-year old barber, a minister, and a 17-year-old black kid. The latter’s feelings about injustice, racism, and the white world in general explode in a furious speech which had a devastating effect on the audience. Almost as powerful are the words of the minister, head of a black church, whose faith in God is pretty much destroyed by the senseless killing (“how could He let it happen?” he wails). Orlandersmith uses body language and vocal inflection to excellent effect. Whether white or black, male or female, young or old, all of her characters come alive before our eyes, give voice to their pent-up, heart-felt emotions (some of which, it must be said, are racist to the core). In short, Orlandersmith delivers a stunning, tour de force performance, one which must be rated as memorable. Her monologue takes place on a stage lined with typical tokens of grief and condolence which people leave as street memorials following a Michael Brown-like killing: flowers, candles, photos, testimonials, etc.. Upstage is a large scrim which serves as a backdrop for Nicholas Hussong’s projection designs: images of Brown and of Darren Wilson, the 28-year-old cop who shot him. Flashes of Martin Luther King and President Obama also streak before us, giving context and history to Orlandersmith’s powerful and all-too-relevant play.
