The events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, a catastrophic natural disaster that affected much of the American South, are rife with controversy. In Katrina: A State of Emergency, playwright Jeffrey Bruner has interwoven true stories of despair and destruction in New Orleans with those that illustrate the survival of the human spirit. We meet tourists that tell their story of their five-day hell. We hear from a blogger who chronicled the events from a deserted high rise in the city. And we hear from government officials – both local and national – whose convoluted response and indifference is a pointed contrast with the reality of the situation.