GARTH WILLIAMS : 50ish or older, a white writer and illustrator from the East Coast. Frisky, sardonic, dry, funny, deadly serious and omnipresent, when practical. Requires a charismatic chameleon actor with range and gravitas. He could also assume several small roles  depending on the number of actors cast: *

 

*BOBBY CRONE: 60s-80s, white male Alabama State Representative. Pronounced Southern accent. Aged, sickly, irritable, avuncular, wise.

 

*HERSCHEL WEBB: 30s-50s, white male Montgomery newspaper reporter. Sincere, fair, liberal-leaning. Pronounced Southern accent.

 

*HENRY BRANCH: 30s-50s, fiery white male segregationist columnist from the Deep South. Pronounced Southern accent.

 

*a folky RADIO ANNOUNCER

 

*and two silent WHITE PASSERSBY

 

*COFFEE CART SERVER: White adult male or female (non-speaking role; could also be played by same performer as PASSERBY and ANOTHER PASSERBY).

LILY WHITFIELD: 32, a white woman from small-town Alabama privilege. Genteel Alabama accent. Politically unversed, she is the product of (and enjoys the benefits of) a racist system and has not questioned it. Sheltered, ashamed, loyal, religious, garrulous, charming, unhappily married, sentimental, all façade, ready to blossom.

JOSHUA MOORE: 32, upwardly mobile middle-class African-American man who left Alabama years ago, settling in the north after serving in the Army. Purposely subtle and suppressed Alabama accent, which becomes pronounced when agitated. He is politically active, aspirational, loyal, kind, worldly, happily married, slow to boil, susceptible to nostalgia without getting lost in it, a disciple of Dr. King.

SENATOR E.W. HIGGINS: 50ish or more, a white Alabama State Senator. Pronounced Alabama accent. He is an active racist, a charmer, a bully, a bull, a poisoner, a politician. Most of what he says is rhetorical or performative. Not as smart as he thinks he is, but influential. He is never sorry. An extrovert.

EMILY WHEELOCK REED: 50ish or more, a white female librarian, the State Librarian of Alabama, born in North Carolina and raised in Indiana. No Southern accent. She has no sense of humor, she does not suffer fools, she is all-business. When cornered, fallible. When her vulnerability is accessed and her heart unlocked, a person of good character is revealed. An introvert.

THOMAS FRANKLIN: 28, a white male reference librarian, Emily's assistant. Pronounced Alabama accent. Buttoned-up, genteel, educated, officious, efficient, slightly uncomfortable in his own skin. Neutral and objective when conveying information. The kind of man you want as your colleague, or your son.