 | By Asthaa Chaturvedi |
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 | | A memorial to Breonna Taylor in Manhattan.Todd Heisler/The New York Times |
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Listen to ‘The Killing of Breonna Taylor’: Part 1 and Part 2 |
Unlike the last moments of the lives of George Floyd, Eric Garner and Rayshard Brooks, Breonna Taylor’s death was not captured on video. There is no footage of the police gunfire that killed her in the hall of her own home during a raid in the middle of the night. So for months, our colleagues Rukmini Callimachi, a reporter, and Yoruba Richen, a producer and director, tried to answer the question that had set off protests, filled billboards, and inspired songs and celebrity statements: What happened to Breonna Taylor? |
In their investigation and documentary for “The New York Times Presents,” Rukmini and Yoruba sifted through over 1,500 pages of police records; conducted interviews with friends, family members, neighbors and experts; and acquired critical recordings, including jailhouse calls, police statements and multiple 911 dispatches. |
As the Daily producers Andy Mills, Daniel Guillemette and I listened to these hours of tape, along with the editors Larissa Anderson and Alix Spiegel, we realized the story we needed to tell began much earlier than the night Breonna died. |
There was a lot to cover: Both the rich and complex circumstances of Breonna’s life as well as the recent history of policing in Louisville, Ky., were essential context for understanding her death. |
So we decided to break the story into two parts. The first episode focused on the events that led to the police knocking on Breonna’s door in March. We covered how the story of a young Black woman undergoing personal and professional transition intersected with the city of Louisville’s Police Department working on reform amid accusations of racial bias. |
Then, in the second episode, we examined the night Breonna died, reconstructing what happened on both sides of her apartment door during the police raid according to those who were present. In many ways, the accounts given by both Breonna’s boyfriend, Kenny, as well as one of the police officers present that night are similar. Until a certain point. |
In that episode, you can hear where their accounts diverge, what those differing accounts might mean for the investigation into her death and, ultimately, why the demands from protesters to arrest the officers who fired their guns that night may not be met. |
When we set out to make these episodes, we wanted to contextualize the events of March 12 and 13 and give listeners a deeper understanding of who Breonna Taylor was. But, of course, the life we uncovered was so much larger than two episodes could capture. |
There were many details that didn’t make it into the episodes: For example, I appreciated learning that Breonna was the type of person who could make even the most mundane outing a lot of fun, pumping up the music on a trip to Chick-fil-A to get some mac and cheese. There was a lot of joy and laughter in the voices of those who loved her. |
Deep in the tape, I heard Tamika Palmer, Breonna’s mother, describe Breonna as an easy baby. Then, she paused to laugh a little to herself, caught up in that memory. You can hear this moment in the first episode. |
As an audio producer, I want to preserve those moments — the emotion in pauses, or the way someone sounds when they’re smiling. I hope that if I’m moved by these details, listeners will be too. |
 | | Rehearsal for “Godspell” at the Berkshire Theater Group in Massachusetts.Bryan Derballa for The New York Times |
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In mid-July, I sent an email to Michael Barbaro. I’m the theater reporter here at The Times, and I was about to head up to the Berkshires to start reporting on a pandemic production of “Godspell.” My gut was that it would make a good audio story, and I was hoping he’d think so too. |
“Could be a chance to talk about what’s happening with theater in the U.S.,” I noted. “Also: singing.” |
The next morning, I found myself in a video chat with two producers I had never met — Bianca Giaever and Luke Vander Ploeg — making my case as I tried to get my 10,000 steps walking through Central Park (meeting while walking is one benefit of working from home). My pitch: This would be intimate (I’d be following rehearsals), but important (it was the only musical with union actors in the U.S. this summer); familiar (doesn’t everyone know “Godspell”?), but strange (masks! screens! swabs!). |
It was a newsy summer — politics, pandemic, policing — so a tough time to sell an arts story. But Bianca and Luke were interested enough to give me one bit of noncommittal advice as I prepared to head north: Record everything. |
Obviously, they ultimately decided to go for it: Bianca and Luke, working with the producer Stella Tan and the editors Alix Spiegel and Larissa Anderson, spent hours teasing the story out of me in video meetings; it was my first collaboration with The Daily, and I was impressed with both their technical and their narrative know-how. |
The result was the episode that was posted last Friday, in which I followed the small group of actors and other artists trying to put together this production while also staying safe. |
I was gratified that so many listeners seemed moved by the story — sharing my sense of loss at the silencing of so much art this season, as well as my sense of inspiration at the determination so many artists have to persevere. |
Share your thoughts on the “Godspell” episode with Michael on Twitter: @MichaelPaulson. |
 | | Michael at the opening night for “Godspell.” This photo was shot by Kate Shindle, the president of Actors’ Equity, who sat behind him in the socially distanced audience.Kate Shindle |
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Tuesday: The police released few details about the death of Daniel Prude, a Black man who was restrained by officers in Rochester, N.Y. The full story has prompted claims of an official cover-up, Sarah Maslin Nir reports. |
Wednesday: “She was coming for everything she wanted this year. 2020 was her year.” In the first of two parts, Rukmini Callimachi speaks to those who knew Breonna Taylor best, and investigates why the Louisville police ended up at her front door. |
Thursday: Rukmini, along with the producer/director Yoruba Richen, trawled through thousands of pages of documents to understand what happened the night Breonna Taylor was killed. We hear their findings. |
Friday: Christopher Flavelle on why the wildfires ravaging California are part of a self-perpetuating cycle, exacerbated by house-building practices. |
That’s it for The Daily newsletter. See you next week. |
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