A True History of the Johnstown Flood Study - Goodman Theatre

Introduction to the Study Guide
BY WILLA J. TAYLOR, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
A True History of the Johnstown Flood, Rebecca Gilman’s
wonderful new play, looks at an event that destroyed
a Pennsylvania city in 1889, but the parallels to New
Orleans and the devastation unleashed by Hurricane
Katrina five years ago are frightening.
I spent a lot of my childhood visiting relatives in
Louisiana and the Gulf Region. I rooted for the Saints
long before they were ever good enough for a Super
Bowl. And I learned the secret of black roux and gumbo
in my Aunt CC’s kitchen. When Katrina hit, I quit my job
and went to New Orleans to help rebuild the city. What I
saw was horrific. The destruction to the city I loved was
tragic – two-story houses collapsed like accordions;
personal possessions strewn on empty lots, the last
vestiges of what had been someone’s home; the
ubiquitous red X’s on dilapidated structures, indications
that buildings had been searched and whether bodies
had been found. But more than the physical decimation
and the stench of decay and death was the brutal
realization that in 2005 – as in 1889 in Johnstown -
class and race were still determining factors in who
was expendable, what was considered valuable and
what could be tossed aside and forgotten. In Johnstown
and in New Orleans, it was the hubris of those with
resources who ignored the dangers to those without that
contributed to the devastation and destruction of life and
culture.
Now there is Haiti.
And Chile.
And Turkey.
It’s been more than a century since the Johnstown flood
washed away a town and exposed the economic divide
between wealthy industrialists and the immigrants who
worked in their factories. In August, it will be five years
since Katrina blew down the levees and exposed the
ugliness of class and racial disparity to a much wider
audience.
There are some lessons we seem unable to learn.
New Orleans photo.
A scene from the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Photo courtesy of Willa J. Taylor.
2