Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Dael Orlandersmith’s affecting docudrama UNTIL THE FLOOD asks us to empathize, firstly

• By drediman
• January 23, 2018
• No Comments

Dael Orlandersmith in “Until the Flood” at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater.

This past weekend, I caught Dael Orlandersmith’s one-woman Off-Broadway play Until the Flood at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater. Commissioned by St. Louis Repertory, Ms. Orlandersmith’s docudrama depicts a series of interviewed St. Louis residents – black and white, and across the the socio-economic spectrum – as they attempt to navigate the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death.

In the style of fellow theater artist, the indispensable Anna Deavere Smith, each is skillfully given voice by Ms. Olandersmith. All in all, Until the Flood is a balanced representation of the confusion and anger laid bare by Brown’s death. In the intelligent, very capable hands of Ms. Orlandersmith, no solutions are offered – for better or worse, theatrically. It’s suggested that before that an answer to all this is even a remote possibility, we must genuinely empathize. Until the Flood is a heartfelt attempt at this first step.

RECOMMENDED

UNTIL THE FLOOD
Off-Broadway, Play
Rattlestick Playwrights Theater
1 hour, 10 minutes (without an intermission)
Through February 18