The Face of Emmett Till
by Robert King, Jr.

Oct. 18 (2018)

August 28, 1955…50 years ago… Emmett Till was brutally murdered. June 2, 2005…The F.B.I. reopens the case. The Face of Emmett Till is a true-to-life dramatization of the death of 14-year-old Emmett Till, a Chicago teenager who, while visiting relatives in Money, Miss., in August 1955, was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by two white men who claimed they wanted to teach him a lesson for "allegedly" whistling at a local white woman.

The horror and the brutality of this crime were magnified even more when his mother, Mamie Till-Mobley, made the fateful decision to invite the media to the funeral where she had an open casket. The shocking pictures were published by the American black press and were later republished around the world. The ramifications of this act are still being felt today.

As retold for the first time within a creative, nonfictional genre by Mamie Till-Mobley, the play chronicles this tragedy, its aftermath, and her heroic crusade for justice. The year 2005 commemorates the 50th anniversary of this incident, which has rightfully been called "the hate crime that changed America" and in fact sparked the Civil Rights movement; two months after the death of Emmett Till, Rosa Parks stood up against Jim Crow and helped spearhead the historic Montgomery Bus Boycott. She has often cited the tragic death of Emmett Till as one of a myriad of reasons she refused to give her seat to a white passenger.

King Productions is excited to announce auditions for our season opener

" The Face Of Emmett Till" 

Written By: Mamie Till- Mobley & David Bar III

Directed By: Robert King Jr.

 

Produced By Special Arrangements with The Dramatic Publishing Company of Woodstock, Illinois

 

Auditions 

Thursday October 18th, 2018

6:30 pm to 8:30 pm 

George Washington Caver Museum

1165 Angeline Street

Austin, TX 78702

 

Sides from the script will be provided the day of auditions.

Callbacks Saturday October 20th from 12 pm to 2 pm

 

Roles To Be Cast
 
Emmet Till: African- American teenager, 14 years old, as he was before his death in 1955.
 
Mamie Till- Mobley: Cast
 
Morris Dees: White man, head of Southern Poverty Law Center, mid to late 40s.
 
Alma Spearman: African- American woman, mother of Mamie, early 50s.
 
Henry Spearman: African- American man, stepfather of Mamie, late 50s to early 60s.
 
Roy Bryant: White man, small-time supply-store owner in Money, Mississippi, mid- to late 20's
 
Carolyn Bryant: Cast
 
J.W. Milam: White Man, Stepbrother of Roy Bryant, early 40s 
 
Roy Wilkins: African- American man executive secretary of the NAACP during the heyday, mid 40s
 
Moses Wright: African- American man, great- uncle of Mamie and Emmett, mid 60s.
 
A.A. Rayner: African- American man, south-side Chicago funeral director, early 50s.
 
Maurice: African- American teenager, country cousin of Emmett, 18 years old.
 
Willie Reed: African- American man,  Money, Mississippi. resident key witness. early 20s
 
Gerald Chatham: White man, district attorney of the Tallahatchie County, lead prosecutor on the Till murder trial, early 50s.
 
John Whitten: White man, defense attorney for Milam and Bryant, early 40s.
 
Senator James O. Eastland: White man, Mississippi  senator, early 50s.
 
Sheriff H.C. Strider: White man, Tallahatchie County Sheriff, early 50s.
 
Judge Swango: White man, presiding judge in he trial of the Milam and Bryant, early 60s.
 
Bishop Louis Henry Ford: African- American man, pastor who eulogized Emmett, late 40s.