About the Play:

Until the Flood is a full-length drama by Dael Orlandersmith. Based on extensive interviews following the 2014 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson, Until the Flood powerfully explores the roiling currents of American history, race and politics that exploded in the streets of Ferguson, Missouri and sent shock waves across the nation.

Until the Flood explores the reactions of the St. Louis region following the fatal officer-involved shooting of teenager Michael Brown. The play both is and isn't about the 2014 shooting of black teenager Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri and the protests that followed. This event is the catalyst for Until the Flood, which was informed by hundreds of interviews Dael Orlandersmith conducted with a cross-section of people in and around Ferguson who have vastly different perspectives on the incident that turned the town into a flashpoint in Americas never-ending struggle for racial justice. It portrays the many faces found within the community, giving eight composite characters the chance to take center stage. In front of a candle-filled, flickering memorial to Brown, each speaker is fully inhabited and dispassionately held up for inspection. In this gripping and revelatory drama, Dael Orlandersmith journeys into the heart and soul of modern-day America – confronting the powerful forces of history, race and politics, and embodying the many faces of a community rallying for justice, and a country still yearning for change.

Until the Flood premiered in 2016 at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and made its New York Off-Broadway premiere in 2018 at Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, where it earned a New York Times Critics' Pick, and subsequently produced around the United States and in Ireland, Scotland, and England, with the same performer, director, and creative team.

Cast: 1 female (alternate casting 3 female)

What people say:

"[Orlandersmith] brings the questions, the pain and even the unspeakable thoughts of hundreds, if not millions, to life. Until the Flood is an urgent moral inquest." — New York Times

"…eye-opening and quietly moving…[Orlandersmith] gets under these black skins and white skins and finds the common humanity of people who are just…people." — Variety

"Until the Flood pointedly avoids easy sanctimony, instead challenging us to confront…deep, long-running societal fissures…[Orlandersmith] build[s] a sobering brick-by-brick portrait of a society still reckoning with racism in all its insidious forms…the effect is akin to that of a prayer, a poetic plea for understanding and peace that ought to be heard all across the land." — TheaterMania.com

"…powerful and thought-provoking…gripping theatre…a must-see show that will have a profound effect on everyone who views it." — BroadwayWorld.com

"Searing [and] bleak…Its a powerfully well-balanced examination of race relations in the United States…Orlandersmith skillfully organizes the material into short monologues that are revelatory, insightful and often tinged with humor." — TheaterScene.net

About the Playwright:

Dael Orlandersmith (born Donna Brown) is an American actress, poet and playwright. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist and Drama Desk Award nominee for Outstanding Play and Outstanding Actress in a Play for Yellowman.