In late summer 2016, the Waterloo-based Playwrights Local staged a piece called Objectively/Reasonable: A Community Response to the Shooting of Tamir Rice, 11/22/14. It dealt with the emotions surrounding Cleveland’s most notorious murder-by-police, that of 12-year-old Tamir, at the Cudell Community Center on Cleveland’s west side.
When one of the police-friendly “experts” hired by county prosecutor Tim McGinty to essentially play defense for the cops during the grand jury indictment process declared the gunning down of the child within seconds of arriving at the scene to be “objectively reasonable,” many felt it was clear the process was rigged and there would be no justice for Tamir. In fact, we’re still waiting.
Director Terrence Spivey and dramaturg David Todd, along with a team of playwrights — Mike Geither, Tom Hayes, Lisa Langford, Michael Oatman and Todd — put together a powerful evening drawn from interviews in which people from Tamir’s neighborhood and around the city describe their feelings around the shooting and why and how it happened. The run was sold out and Playwrights Local presented another sold-out run in early 2017. Tamir’s mother, Samaria Rice, spoke movingly following the curtain call on the final night. She’s still waiting.
Now, given the uprising sweeping the country Playwrights Local has posted a video of Objectively/Reasonable. They say, “Creating Objectively/Reasonable, someone close to the subject asked us, ‘What took you so long?’ We thought we might’ve taken on this topic too late. Unfortunately, we realized time and again that it remained relevant in a very immediate, urgent sense. Every time we thought the moment had passed and the lesson had been learned, the cycle would flare up again.
In response to the recent deaths of so many Black Americans at the hands of police, Playwrights Local is posting the video recording of our critically acclaimed 2016 production.”
Go here to watch.
Cleveland, OH 44110