On a stage littered with stuffed animals, flowers and liquor bottles – evoking the memorial to Brown that sprang up at the site of the shooting – Orlandersmith embodies characters drawn with closely observed specificity. An elderly black woman, weary of violence and discrimination. A white teacher whose well-intentioned comments about Brown’s death alienated a black colleague. A retired cop who defends the all-white force he served on. Two black teenage boys who yearn for escape: one through college in California, the other through death.
Michael Brown shooting inspires ‘Until the Flood,’ a play about a community’s frustrations and fears