Community

Flint residents’ voices tell story of water crisis in new work by UM playwright

Michigan Public | By Stateside Staff

Published April 2, 2019 at 3:33 PM EDT

Actors on stage during a performance of Flint, the play.

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“How do you create art in the midst of trauma? How do I go in and not cause more harm than good?” Jose Casas says he was mindful of building trust with the Flint community when writing his play, which drew from more than 80 interviews with Flint residents";s:

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Residents Casas talked to weren’t always comfortable with the artists or researchers coming to Flint. “They’re like ‘Why are you really here? Is it really to help us or [is it] just the hot thing to do?’ I didn’t want to be one of those people.”";s:3:"uri";s:

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Actors on stage during a performance of Flint.

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“There are stories about how [the crisis] affected the Latino community in terms of immigration. There’s a monologue about how the deaf community has been ignored, and I never would have imagined that starting this play," Casas said.";s:

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“It’s a play about us taking things for granted, even a cup of water.” Casas says that he hopes that viewers will be inspired to think about how each of us “in our own individual lives” can create meaningful change in our communities. ";s:3:"uri

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Stories of Flint's water crisis have been reported on in documentaries, magazines, newspapers, and on television and radio.

But José Casas, assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, has found a new way to tell the stories of Flint residents — using theater.

Casas’s new play Flint is a series of monologues and group scenes that feature fictionalized characters based on real people who live in Flint. The script is informed by more than 80 interviews Casas conducted with residents.

“The dialogue is 100 % from the people of Flint, as well as a couple of instances of public records,” Casas said.

Flint premieres Friday, April 5 at 8:00PM at the University of Michigan’s Arthur Miller Theatre and will run for two weeks. There is also a symposium featuring panels, lectures, play readings, and workshops at the Walgreen Drama Center on April 4 and 5.

The play will have an additional performance at the Flint Development Center on April 16, as well as a live-streamed performance on April 19. Casas says he hopes to get the word out about Flint “to as many people as possible.”

“There’s a whole lot of Flints popping up in this country, and we need to deal with those too, and to show that it really isn’t just about the water,” Casas said. “Flint has been dealing with a lot of things for decades, even centuries—racism, poverty, violence, social inequity. So those all play a factor in what happened in the water crisis.”

Check out the slideshow above to learn more about Flint and how the play uses theater as a tool for social justice.

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