a Portrait of the Flint Water Crisis

Invisible Toxins

In 2014, the city of Flint, Michigan switched its water supply and a massive health crisis ensued. By 2016 this factory city with a 40% poverty rate was experiencing the lasting effects of lead in the water. Most of its people are African American.

In Cullud Wattah, a powerful drama by Erika Dickerson-Despenza, three generations of women living together are slowly being killed by the toxins in their water. They speak of good and bad water. Their home is filled with water bottles of every size. How many bottles does it take to clean the green beans? How many bottles to wash all the vegetables for Thanksgiving? The youngest child memorizes the numbers and recites them to her grandmother.

A Fierce Family

Marion, played with fierce love and anger by Shanntina Moore, is the breadwinner in the home. She works the line at General Motors, and is offered a management position just as a class action lawsuit is being put together. Her sister Ainee (Dayatra Hassan), a recovering addict who is seven months pregnant, wants to join the lawsuit. She can be just as fierce and angry as her sister, but also displays a softer side. Marion is opposed to joining the lawsuit as it could cost her the new job that will pay all their outstanding bills. The amazing Verneice Turner plays their mother, Big Ma, with a fierceness that matches her daughters’ and a wit that can cut as well as amuse. She is the family historian, reminding them of all what General Motors has meant to the family over the generations when they left the Mississippi Delta for a better life during the Great Migration. Brooklyn Walker is delightful as Reesee, Marion’s free thinking older daughter who prays to the Santeria water goddess Yemaya for clean water. Janae Leonard, an adult, plays the young Plum, who is dying of lymphoma, with an innocence that has the feel of a young child. 

Conflicts arise in the household between the women as their history gradually unfolds. Old wounds are opened and then closed again. Secrets from the past are laid bare. Looming over them at all times is the fact of the water. Each actor is excellent in their role, projecting a clear sense of who they are and what motivates them, as well as their underlying love for each other.

A Test of Faith

The creative team is at the top of their game. Set Design is by a committee that has put together four rooms in a home that looks lived in and loved. Lighting and Sound Design by Nicholas Quinn sets mood and tone. Costumes by Jennifer Simpson give a sense of the personalities of each of the women. Director Curtis Lovell and her assistant Rachael Jamison have done fine work in this very compelling production. 

The women sing the refrain from the spiritual “Wade in the Water” as “Lead in thuh Wattah” as the play begins. Faith is discussed, tested, discarded by some, a lifeline for others. In the end, there are no answers. The rashes will fester, the cancer will spread, the infections will kill. This is the human cost beneath the headlines. It is portrayed with great heart and sadness by this fine cast.