Collaboraction to Screen TRIAL IN THE DELTA: THE MURDER OF EMMETT TILL at Judicial Conference

Chicago's Collaboraction Theatre Company will present a private film screening of its live theatrical performance, Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, on Friday, May 9 for the Judicial Conference held by the Municipal Court of Philadelphia of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania.

Collaboraction’s original live staging of Trial in the Delta was drawn directly from the newly unearthed 1955 trial transcript of The State of Mississippi vs. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. The immersive theater experience, including audience response to the historic injustice documented on stage, was filmed during a live performance in February 2023 at Chicago’s DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. 

The screening for the Philadelphia Judges represents a landmark moment to share the court proceedings of the once-missing trial transcript with sitting Judges. Co-creators Anthony Moseley and Willie Round will be present in Philadelphia to make the presentation and moderate the conversation.

The film, Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, includes behind-the-scenes footage, riveting live stage performances and reactions from audience members after witnessing a live reenactment of a trial that remains one of the most monumental injustices of the U.S. legal system in the 20th century. It plays like a live reenactment of the actual court proceedings in Sumner, Mississippi in 1955. Top Chicago actors portray witnesses for the defense and prosecution, including Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Bradley, and his uncle, Mose Wright. Other pivotal characters include judge Curtis Swango, defense attorney J.J. Breeland, district attorney Gerald Chatham, Carolyn Bryant, the woman at the center of Emmett Till’s kidnapping and killing, and the two men found not guilty of killing the young boy, J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant.

Trial in the Delta began in 2022 in partnership with award-winning NBC5 Chicago anchor Marion Brooks. Collaboraction company members G. Riley Mills and Willie Round were commissioned to co-adapt the original, recently unearthed 354-page trial transcript into a 90-page immersive theatrical reenactment. The play was published by Dramatic Publishing and is available for purchase here.

Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley and company member Dana Anderson co-directed the original teleplay, which was filmed live in one day in February 2022 at NBC Chicago’s studio. The resulting NBC5/Collaboraction filmed co-production subsequently won a National Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary, two Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards and a Silver Gavel Award (Honorable Mention) from the American Bar Association.

Photo Credit: Joel Maisonet

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