A Mike Wiley Production
One man Show
Wednesday, March 7, 2007. 7:00 pm
Admission; $10 general, $5 students
In 1955 a 14 year old black Chicago youth traveled to the Mississippi Delta with country kinfolk and good southern meals on his mind. He walked off the train and into a world he could never understand. A world of thick color lines, of hard held class systems and unspeakable taboos. Young Emmett crossed the line and stepped into his gruesome fate by whistling at a white woman. This play chronicles the murder, trial and unbelievable confession of the men accused of Till’s lynching. 50 years later questions still remain. 50 years later and no one has been convicted. Grades 7-12.
Fifty years ago a petite black woman tired from a days work rested her weary bones on a segregated Alabama city bus. Rosa Park’s refusal to relinquish her seat to a white man sparked a movement among Montgomery’s black citizens that would carry their cries for equality around the world and subsequently resound in the halls of the Supreme Court. This play documents the tales of Martin Luther King Jr. and nearly a dozen of the hundreds of men and women who stood up to Jim Crow’s segregation, held tight to their bus money and walked for freedom for 381 days. Grades 3-12
Mike Wiley has toured all over the U.S. and even internationally with Peace Child. He’s been seen on television with George Washington Health Insurance, The FBI Files, Discovery Channel and Virginia Tourism. An Upward Bound Alum and Trio Achiever Award recipient, Mike is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill’s M.F.A. program. Mike has been in regional stage performances with Mill Mountain Theatre and Playmakers Repertory Company.
This production is co-sponsored by the St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, Inc and the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
