An American Journey

A passionate retelling of the Daniel Bell incident, in which a black man was shot and killed while running from police officers. “The Daniel Bell incident twice was a major story in Milwaukee. In 1958, the 22-year-old black man was shot and killed while running from a pair of uniformed Milwaukee policemen. In the late 1970s, one of the former police officers came forward and admitted the shooting incident was not self-defense and that there was a cover-up that spread from the Milwaukee Police Department to the office of the district attorney. That disclosure launched a criminal trial and subsequent civil suit by the family of the slain man. The Bell incident forms the basis of a compelling and, for the most part, engrossing play, AN AMERICAN JOURNEY.” Rugg, Variety “Kermit Frazier’s and John Leicht’s AN AMERICAN JOURNEY is a piece of fine playwriting … the play is an effective and moving piece of drama.” -Jay Joslyn, Milwaukee Sentinel “… authors Kermit Frazier and John Leicht [bring] forth a model of clarity and condensation that is all the more notable for its power to move us.” -Nels Nelson, Philadelphia Daily News “AN AMERICAN JOURNEY, a provocative play that rings with awareness of American life as people are actually living it today.” -William B Collins, The Philadelphia Inquirer “The play creates a haunting portrait of a transient country in which many characters, both black and white, seem unable to settle down in one place.” -Bruce Murphy, Milwaukee “Playwrights Kermit Frazier (who is black) and John Leicht (who is white) have succeed in fashioning a powerhouse play … that is ingenious in structure (moving through time with cinematic grace), passionate in content …” -Charles Lee, W F L N