Collaboraction Theatre Company’s new feature film Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till has been named a 2024 Silver Gavel Award Finalist by the American Bar Association.
Collaboraction is in good company. Martin Scorsese's film Killers of the Flower Moon is the ABA’s only other nominee for “Outstanding Drama and Literature."
“We are thrilled to share this honor with our fellow finalists Martin Scorsese, Lily Gladstone, Leonardo DiCaprio and their team at Apple Original Films,” said Collaboraction Artistic Director Anthony Moseley. “Excavating and adapting the once-missing Emmett Till trial transcript into a live theater production gave Collaboraction the honor and responsibility to share it as broadly and as often as possible, whether that be through live performance, online streaming, or now, our newly released film version of the final live performance."
The American Bar Association announced 29 finalists for the 2024 Silver Gavel Awards for Media and the Arts in a variety of categories on March 20. The awards recognize outstanding work that fosters the American public’s understanding of law and the legal system, and are the ABA’s highest honor in recognition of this purpose.
Winners will be announced on May 22. ABA President Mary Smith will present Silver Gavels and Honorable Mentions on August 3 at 3 p.m. at the ABA Annual Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. To learn more, go to Silver Gavel (americanbar.org).
Watch the Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till trailer. Download the MP4 here.
Kayla Franklin (left) plays Mamie Till-Bradley in Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till.
Emmett Till’s uncle Mose Wright, played by Darren Jones, points out J.W. Milam and Roy Bryant as the boy’s murderers in Collaboraction’s reenactment of the 1955 trial.
Audience response to Trial in the Delta at The DuSable Museum of Black History in February 2023.
Collaboraction’s original live staging of Trial in the Delta in 2022 was drawn directly from the newly unearthed 1955 trial transcript of The State of Mississippi vs. Roy Bryant and J.W. Milam. Top Chicago actors turn in riveting performances, speaking the very same words said by witnesses for the defense and prosecution, including Emmett Till’s mother, Mamie Till-Bradley, and his uncle, Mose Wright.
Other pivotal characters in Collaboraction’s live reenactment of the actual court proceedings in Sumner, Mississippi in 1955 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 recently unearthed 354-page trial transcript into a 90-page immersive theatrical reenactment. 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 teleplay subsequently won two Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards.
Just days after filming at NBC Chicago, Trial in the Delta was re-staged and presented live on a minimal set, two shows only, in February 2022 at The DuSable Museum of Black History. A year later, the production was expanded and more fully mounted for a two-week run at DuSable. The final performance and Crucial Conversation with the audience was professionally filmed in 4K. The new film version includes behind-the-scenes footage, riveting live stage performances, and reactions from audience members.
Organizations interested in booking a screening of Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till, virtual or in-person, should send inquiries to info@collaboraction.org.
Collaboraction: Changing the map and removing barriers in the theater industry
Collaboraction is a 27-year-old non-profit arts organization that builds knowledge, empathy, dialogue and action around oppression and inequity through live theater, film and online interactive programs that leverage the power of storytelling and community to cultivate positive social change.
Collaboraction has been recognized as an industry leader using theater, storytelling, community building and digital media (film, radio/podcast) and has been awarded two Emmy Awards, a Distinguished Service to the Arts Award, DCASE’s Foster Innovation Award and a Silver Gavel Honorable Mention from the American Bar Association, among others.
Notable examples of Collaboraction’s recent work include two-time Emmy-award winning The Lost Story of Emmett Till: Trial in the Delta, Collaboraction Radio, live, every Saturday at 4 p.m. CST on WCPT-820 AM, Moonset Sunrise, A Blue Island In the Red Sea, The Light Youth Ensemble and the annual Peacebook Festival.
In addition to live performances, radio, community building and video production, Collaboraction centers and presents its work in Chicago neighborhoods historically overlooked like Englewood, Austin and Lawndale.
Collaboraction’s February 22nd screening of Trial in the Delta: The Murder of Emmett Till is supported in part by AV Chicago, Marc and Jeanne Malnati Family Foundation, Joseph and Bessie Feinberg Foundation, Naperville Rotary Club, the Field Foundation, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the company’s growing ranks of Collaboractivists, individuals who support the company’s mission with monthly contributions, starting at just $1. To join, visit collaboraction.org/memberships.
To learn more about Collaboraction, visit collaboraction.org or follow the company on Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Twitter.