Judith Sloan portrays a muckraking southern woman with a sharp ironic wit, riding a roller coaster through an incestuous Mississippi legal system made up of frightening, odd and quirky characters. A Tattle Tale, the story of a teenage runaway, turned deputy sheriff, turned whistleblower, bears witness to coming of age in the face of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Inspired by the true story of Andrea Gibbs, who in 1989, sworn to uphold the law, blew the whistle on her superior officers for the brutal treatment of juvenile offenders in detention centers and prisons in Mississippi. In 1993, her efforts culminated in federal investigations and closings of prisons that were deemed “barbaric and unfit for human habitation.” Running time: one hour, fifteen minutes. Workshop performances originally developed at La Mama ETC. It premiered (1998) at Independent Performance Space at HERE, in New York, and has been produced in theaters, universities and conferences throughout the USA.
A Tattle Tale: Eyewitness in Mississippi
A play conceived and written by
Warren Lehrer and Judith Sloan
Performed by Judith Sloan
To hear the play as performed on Democracy Now Click Here
To hear the documentary by Laura Sydell and Judith Sloan that aired on National Public Radio Click Here
To inquire about a performance CLICK HERE