The film version of the play Ferguson was uploaded to Youtube this week, almost a year after the play sparked outrage and a walkout of the original actors.
The film recounts eyewitnesses’ account of last hours of Michael Brown, the black teenager who was shot and killed by white police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo. in Aug., 2014.
The original play was written in “verbatim theater” style and consisted of the unaltered Grand Jury statements of mainly black witnesses word for word as the Ferguson grand jury heard them. It includes forensic and medical examiner evidence used in the trial.
With 10 black roles, including three prominent ones for black women over 40, Ferguson boasted diversity, said producer and journalist Phelim McAleer, an Irish conservative filmmaker.
The evidence from the trial proves Michael Brown did not have his hands up in surrender when he was shot by Wilson and that Wilson was justified in shooting. Brown had been on a crime-spree earlier that morning.
The jury did not convict Officer Wilson, a move that angered the black community, who kept the false “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” narrative alive even after the jury’s decision.
In spite of the evidence of witnesses who were mostly black and all under oath, nine of the play’s 13 original actors ditched the play. Most were black, but some white cast members walked out as well including one the day before the performance opened.
Actor Philip Casnoff, who called himself "very liberal, left-wing-leaning," commented on his decision to leave the play.
“It felt like the purpose of the piece was to show, ‘Of course he was not indicted — here’s why.” When Casnoff heard who the play’s author was, he decided, "Whoa, this is not the place for me to be.”
“Their walkout made a mockery of claims that there is a need for more diverse roles in the entertainment industry,” remarked McAleer. “This was a predominantly black cast in a play about a topic that was about an issue -- police shootings of black men -- that was of enormous interest to the black community.”
“What (diversity) activists obviously meant was that they wanted black roles that pushed a left/liberal agenda,” he added.
McAleer’s other journalistic films include Gosnell, a TV movie documenting the horrific crimes of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in 2013 of multiple murder counts and other crimes.
“Ferguson” was as lacking in embellishment as possible since the script consisted of witness statements only. Nevertheless, actors refused to recite the lines simply because McAleer was a conservative and the facts of the case failed to line up with their preconceived narrative.
