MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY’S J. WILLIAM COLLEGE

And Mary Diederich

Of Communication

DIGITAL MEDIA AND PERFORMING ARTS MARQUETTE THEATRE & VIP THEATRE

Presents

by Dominique Morisseau

April 14 – 23, 2023

Director – Nadja Simmonds

Scenic Design – Lilliana Gonzalez

Costume Design – Trinae Williams-Henning

Lighting Design – Maaz Ahmed

Sound Design – Jazmin Reyes

Stage Management – Sam Gutierrez

“Detriot `67” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

The videotaping or making of electronic or other audio and/or visual recordings of this production and distributing recordings or streams in any medium, including the internet, is strictly prohibited, a violation of the author(s)’s rights and actionable under united states copyright law. for more information, please visit: https://concordtheatricals.com/resources/protecting-artists

Marquette University is accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST).

Chelle (Michelle)………………………Martilia Marechal

Lank (Langston)……………………….Deshawn A. Thomas

Bunny (Bonita)…………………………Lauryn Middleton

Sly (Sylvester)………………………….Joseph Brown, Jr.

Caroline………………………………...Naomi Kriege

Setting

Detroit Michigan, July 1967.

There is one 10-minute intermission. The show runs approximately 2 hours.

A NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR

"Certain conditions continue to exist in our society, which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again."

Martin Luther King said this in a speech during the long, hot summer of 1967 where riots and protests broke out across the country. In Detroit, riots were incited due to police officers using excessive force on black patrons while raiding an unlicensed bar. In Newark, riots broke out in protest of the death of John Williams Smith by the hands of police at a minor traffic stop. Here in Milwaukee, hundreds of people took to the streets and marched for 200 days in an effort to end racial housing discrimination and police brutality.

Detroit '67 takes place in a specific time in American History, and yet nothing you will see on stage will surprise you. You might not know what an 8-track looks like, or might be shocked by the small size of a .45 record, but everything you see is a reflection of today's black experience. It's a reflection of modern traumas people of color are facing in America. It's a reflection of our own long hot summer of 2020.

I encourage you to embrace Chelle, Lank, Bunny, Sly, and Caroline with your entire soul. They are dreamers and realists. They exude hope, joy, and community. There are moments when they are afraid, but their fear does not define them. There are moments where they experience trauma, but their traumas do not define them. They are as human as you are. Feel their joy, understand their pain, and become an ally to their struggles.