{"id":1367,"date":"2010-06-25T20:19:00","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T20:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebzbproductions.ebzb.org\/review-compliment-dar-he-the-lynching-of-emmett-till-5\/"},"modified":"2010-06-25T20:19:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T20:19:00","slug":"review-compliment-dar-he-the-lynching-of-emmett-till-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/2010\/06\/25\/review-compliment-dar-he-the-lynching-of-emmett-till-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Review\/Compliment – Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nDar He
\nChronicles the
\nMississippi Murder<\/p>\n

in 1955 of Chicago Teenager Emmett Till<\/h2>\n

\nBy
\nRobert W. McDowell<\/p>\n

Triangle Theater Review<\/p>\n

E-mail: RobertM748@aol.com<\/a><\/div>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

           
\n EbzB
\nProductions<\/a> and Mike
\nWiley
\nProductions<\/a> will stage a joint presentation of Dar
\nHe: The Lynching of Emmett Till<\/a>, a one-man show for mature audiences
\nwritten and performed by critically
\nacclaimed African-American actor Mike Wiley, June 8-11, 15-18, and
\n22-25 in the Deep
\nDish Theater<\/a> at the Dillard’s end of University Mall in Chapel
\nHill, NC.
\nSerena Ebhardt of EbzB will direct this powerful play, which chronicles
\nthe true
\nstory of the August 1955 murder of 14-year-old Chicago teenager.
\n <\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nNot knowing the cruel customs ofthe Jim Crow South, while visiting his uncle down south, Emmett Till
\nwhistled ata white woman named Carolyn Bryant at a grocery store in Money,
\nMississippi.Bryant\u00e2\u00e2\u00e2\u00e2\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00ac\u00c5\u00a1\u00ac\u00e2\u00e2\u00e2\u00e2\u20ac\u0161\u00ac\u00c5\u00be\u00a2s
\nhusband, Roy, and hishalf-brother, J.W. Milam, dragged Till out of
\nhis bed in the middle of the night; brutally beat him; shot him in thehead; and
\nthen dumped his horribly mangled body in the Tallahatchie River,horrifying the
\nnation, inspiring a biting ballad by Bob Dylan (The
\nDeath of Emmett Till<\/a>), and providing a spark for the nascent Civil
\nRights
\nMovement in the Deep South.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nRoy Bryant and J.W. Milam were
\ntried and acquitted in 67 minutes by an all-white, all-male jury, but
\nlater
\nconfessed to the murder during a paid interview with Look
\nMagazine. Both
\nmen are now dead, and recent efforts to reopen the case and prove that
\nBryant
\nand Milam had help in murdering Till and disposing of his body have yet
\nto
\ngenerate any indictments.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nApex actress\/director Serena
\nEbhardt recalls, “Mike Wiley brought this play to me in December of
\n2005. He
\nhad written it to perform himself. Mike asked me if I would consider
\ndirecting
\nit. We had collaborated on a production before, and we work very well
\ntogether.”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nEbhardt says, “Actor Mike Wiley
\nplays all the characters as we experience the lead-up [to the murder],
\ndifferent
\nversions of the event from witnesses and the accused, the trial, and
\nthe
\naftermath. The play presents the historical facts of the event as well
\nas
\nexploring the unsolved mysteries of the case that remain to this day.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nShe adds, “The play is a
\nchallenge. It’s a challenge to perform, a challenge to direct, and a
\nchallenge
\nto audiences. Mike has written a cinematic piece that seems as if it
\nwould only
\nbe doable in the medium of film. We had to work together to discover
\nhow to
\nstage this story with a single actor, to represent many different
\nvoices and
\nlocations, while keeping everything clear for the audience. I also like
\nall the
\npotential morals of the story. I wanted to direct the play primarily
\nbecause I
\nadmire Mike Wiley– his work ethic, his mission, his talent, and his
\nattitude.
\nHe is a dream to direct. He’s an invested actor who does his homework.
\nI knew
\nthat we would inspire each other to discovery.”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nEbhardt says, “Dar He
\npremiered in February 2006 in a single performance booked at Virginia
\nState
\nUniversity in Petersburg, Virginia. The show was created to be part of
\nMike
\nWiley Productions repertoire. Mike has several other one-man
\nperformances that
\nhe tours throughout the United States. After mutual investment in the
\nproduction, Mike invited EbzB Productions (my production company) to
\nshare
\nco-producer credit and continue to help develop and promote the show.
\nWe were
\nhonored!”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nIn addition to director Serena
\nEbhardt, the show’s production team includes multimedia designer Ben
\nDavis and
\nstage manager Ramona Traynor.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\n“We had to work very hard on
\nspecific movement, transitions, and creating spaces on an empty stage”
\nrecalls
\nEbhardt, “In addition to tackling the cinematic quality of the script
\nin a
\ntheatrical medium, the next biggest challenge was to create a show that
\ncan tour
\neasily. This production will continue to be booked in different venues
\nacross
\nthe country. We even have a revised student version of the show that
\ncan be
\ntaken into schools to enhance civil rights studies.<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n          
\n“As we created the show,”
\nEbhardt explains, “we kept in mind that every aspect of the set needed
\nto be
\nportable. We have solid production values, but they are minimalist and
\nfit
\nneatly into Mike’s SUV. Additionally, Mike and I put the burden of
\nproof on
\nthe actor. The success of this play does not depend on production
\nvalues at all.
\nIt depends solely on Mike Wiley’s performance ability.”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\nEbhardt says, the show’s set is minimalist,” with a [Microsoft]
\nPower Point
\npresentation on
\nscreen, a single office chair, and a reel-to-reel recorder”; the
\nlighting is general lighting”; and the costumes are sepia toned.”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n
\n           
\n“Dar He: The Lynching of
\nEmmett Till has a message that is important to revisit,” claims
\nSerena
\nEbhardt. In a time when race relations and hate crimes still occur,
\nthis
\nplay– about an event that happened 50 years ago– gives us some
\ndistance and a
\nsafe environment to think about and discuss issues that still confront
\nus today.
\nAdditionally, the Emmett Till case was reopened by the FBI in 2004,
\nTill’s
\nbody was exhumed from the grave in 2005 to acquire DNA evidence.
\nRecently, the
\nFBI handed the case over to the D.A. in Mississippi to decide if the
\nsurviving
\nremaining suspects in the case should be brought to trial. The result
\nof the
\nD.A.’s decision is pending this very day.”<\/div>\n
\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

\n           
\nEbzB Productions and Mike Wiley
\nProductions present Dar He:
\nThe Lynching of Emmett Till Thursday-Saturday,
\nJune 8-10, 15-17, and 22-24, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, June 11, 18, and 25
\nat 3 p.m.
\nat the Deep Dish Theater in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. $15
\n($10 students and $13 seniors). 919\/968-1515.<\/div>\n
EbzB Productions – Your World Is Our Stage!
\nhttp:\/\/www.ebzb.org<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dar He Chronicles the Mississippi Murder in 1955 of Chicago Teenager Emmett Till By Robert W. McDowell Triangle Theater Review E-mail: RobertM748@aol.com             EbzB Productions and Mike Wiley Productions will stage a joint presentation of Dar He: The Lynching of Emmett Till, a one-man show for mature audiences written and performed by critically acclaimed African-American […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29,30,49,63,67],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-compliment","category-dar-he","category-mike-wiley","category-review","category-serena-ebhardt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ebzb.org\/WPress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}