THE POISONER National Tour Brings Water Justice Conversations to Detroit
DETROIT, MI - The Poisoner comes to Detroit for the final stop of its seven-city national tour. Performances will be followed by a talkbacks connecting the play to the water, press, and water justice work happening in Flint, Detroit, and across Michigan.
The Poisoner follows a determined journalist who returns to his hometown to uncover a devastating cover-up of water contamination...and the powerful forces determined to keep the truth buried. A neo-noir thriller about deception, institutional failure, and the fight for accountability, the play asks the question at the heart of every community's struggle for justice: are we ever safe?
Written by first-time playwright and Michigan native M.M. Haney and directed by two-time Obie Award-winning director Lee Sunday Evans, The Poisoner asks who is accountable when the systems meant to protect us fail, and what it takes for communities to take back control of the resources they depend on.
"There are parallels across the Midwest with communities wrestling with their own questions about data centers, water, accountability, and who has the power to be part of democratic decision-making processes. This is proof the questions in The Poisoner aren't Flint's questions alone, but ours collectively,” said director Lee Sunday Evans.
In Michigan, the questions it raises about lead, control of water resources, and public trust are still being lived and fought over across the state today.
Thursday and Friday performances will include talkbacks with Melissa Mays and Nayyirah Shariff from Flint Rising and Sylvia Orduño with the People's Water Board Coalition, two groups at the center of Michigan's fight for clean, affordable, publicly controlled water. We will also be joined by journalists from Michigan Radio: News Director Vince Duffy and Lindsay Smith, creator of the award winning "Not Safe to Drink" to talk about the journalist's angle of the play and the real-life crisis.
The Poisoner is currently on a 7-city national tour running September 17 through October 31, 2026. Tour cities include Bethlehem, PA; Pittsburgh, PA; Kenosha, WI; Madison, WI; De Pere, WI; Kalamazoo, MI; and Detroit, MI. In each city, the production will engage directly with local communities and connect with organizers, advocates, and residents fighting for clean air, safe water, and community control of the resources that corporations have long sought to exploit. The show originally premiered at New York's acclaimed La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in 2024 on the 10-year anniversary of the Flint water crisis.
More info: uncommonproductions.com/the-poisoner
