Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended
"...Thanks to Trouble the Water, Ellen Geer’s powerful adaptation of the 2019 same-titled historical novel by Rebecca Dwight Bruff, you will learn just who this inspiring man was. Now playing outdoors at Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga, you will come to know Nicholas Nickleby-style — where 26 actors play many roles — Mr. Smalls, who was born in 1839, enslaved by a local planter in South Carolina. By the time he was 23 years old, Smalls had won freedom for himself and his family, and was a famous war hero. He became a prominent leader in the community during the Reconstruction era, including service in both the state and national legislature. His story illustrates the transformative potential of Reconstruction throughout the southern United States."
Stage Scene LA - Highly Recommended
"...Will Geer’s Theatricum Botanicum pays tribute to a little-known figure in African-American history in Ellen Geer’s illuminating, emotion-packed biodrama Trouble The Water, freely adapted from Rebecca Dwight Bruff’s award-winning 2019 novel of the same name."
Showmag - Highly Recommended
"...With Trouble the Water, Artistic Director and force behind the Theatricum, Ellen Geer, brings us an important story of a civil war hero, Robert Smalls. Born into slavery, he survived to become a 5-time congressman during the reconstruction era. Adapted from the novel of the same name by Rebecca Dwight Bruff, Geer’s version is as sprawling as the sweep of this man’s life. Why have you never heard of him, you might ask? His story muddies the neat narratives about the Civil War that make up a few pages or a chapter (at best) in history books that are still under attack in a number of states."
Stage Raw - Highly Recommended
"...Amidst the screeching cicadas and shady oak trees, Theatricum Botanicum transforms into an epic stretch of nearly 80 years in South Carolina and Washington D.C. in the world premiere of Trouble the Water, inspired by the true and little-known story of Robert Smalls, the first African-American hero of the Civil War."
Theatre Notes - Highly Recommended
"...Trouble the Water is a terrific show with a sterling cast. Earnestine Phillips stars as Robert’s mother, Lydia, enslaved in the house of Henry and Jane McKee, who are played by Alistair McKenzie and Robyn Cohen. Rodrick Jean-Charles portrays Trouble’s Uncle George, brother to Reuben (Clarence Powell), who was hanged the night Trouble was born."
Peoples World - Recommended
"...But thanks to Trouble the Water, the 2019 award-winning historical novel by Rebecca Dwight Bruff, and now to the rich, panoramic stage work freely adapted from it by Ellen Geer, the scantly remembered, larger-than-life true story of Robert Smalls, the first African-American hero of the Civil War, has reentered the 21st-century consciousness."
Larchmont Buzz - Highly Recommended
"...Some stories are so significant that they leave you asking, "How did I not know about this before?" One example is the amazing true story of slave Robert "Trouble" Smalls. It's told in Trouble the Water, a 2019 novel written by Rebecca Dwight Bruff and now beautifully adapted for the stage by Theatricum Botanicum's Ellen Geer. The monumental play, with a cast of two dozen, is making its world premiere at that Topanga Canyon oasis."
