In 1955, 14-year-old black youth Emmitt Till traveled from his Chicago home to visit relatives in Money, Mississippi. One day, a rumor spread throughout the town that Emmitt had flirted with a white woman. A few days later, the boy was beaten and murdered. The killers dumped his body into a river, where it was discovered days later. Police arrested Roy Bryant and J. W. Milam, who abducted Till the night he died. They were tried and acquitted of the murder, but later admitted to the crime.

G. Riley Mills and Willie Round adapted this trial into the play "Trial in the Delta," which is now running at the Collaboraction Theater at Chicago's Kimball Arts Center. Much of the dialogue in the play came directly from transcripts of the 1955 trial - transcripts that remained hidden for decades. But this show goes beyond the dialogue. The actors' actions often brought the characters to life, from the smirking defendants to the clerk who glared at black witnesses when swearing them in on a battered Bible.

For the Saturday matinee performance, I purchased seats in the jury box, which gave me a close-up perspective on the action. Witnesses and lawyers addressed the twelve of us directly multiple times during the show.

I was moved by NK Gutierrez's interpretation of Emmett's mother, Mamie - especially the speech she gave following the verdict, in which she credited her son with starting the Civil Rights Movement.

After the play, the audience remained in their seats, while co-author Round led them in a discussion of what they had seen. We heard perspectives on the performance and on racial violence in the past and the present.

Those who know history know that the all-white jury acquitted the defendants. But this play shows the racism inherent in the justice system, in the witnesses, and in the culture of the time and region in which it took place. " Trial in the Delta" is a moving experience that immerses its audience in a time of turmoil.