Play examines the 1995 Chicago heat wave at ECC Feb. 3

Elgin Community College and the Elgin Area Leadership Academy will present "The Meltdown," a one-act play written by retired 16th Circuit Court Judge Wiley Edmondson and directed by Susan A. Robinson, ECC theater instructional coordinator.

The play will be presented from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 3, in the Spartan Auditorium, Building G, located at ECC's Spartan Drive campus, 1700 Spartan Drive, Elgin. Admission is free.

This docudrama, written by Edmondson, takes place during the devastating 1995 heat wave that lead to the deaths of nearly 750 Chicagoans in under one week, over double the fatality rate of the Great Chicago Fire. It examines many factors that contributed to both the enormity of the disaster as well as the lack of awareness surrounding the event including politics, race, and social dynamics.

The docudrama is presented as part of the Elgin Area Leadership Academy's discussion on ethics. The academy is an award-winning program of the Elgin Area Chamber of Commerce that crafts and delivers a curriculum specifically designed to assist individuals in becoming active and inspiring contributors to the community.

After the play, there will be a discussion of the issues brought forth in the drama and the ethical choices a person is often asked to make.

Previous plays written by Edmonson and offered through the Leadership Academy have focused on the flooding of New Orleans, the explosion of the Challenger spacecraft, the incident at Hotel Rwanda, the sinking of the Titanic, the Mai Lai massacre, the women who nursed the wounded at Gettysburg, the Danes who saved the Jews from Nazi Germany, the integration of schools during the Civil Rights era, and the 18th-century slave trade between Africa and the Americas.