Prison Pen Pals www.friendonline.org
  • About Friendonline
    • Helpful hints
  • USA
    • Oklahoma >
      • Emanuel Mitchell
      • James Mitchell
    • Louisiana
    • Florida >
      • Luis Caballero
      • Waldo Jeune
    • Texas >
      • Death Row >
        • A-B-C >
          • Alfred Brown
          • Allen Bridgers
          • Arturo Diaz
          • Beunka Adams
          • Beunka Adams
          • Carol Joe Parr
          • Carlos Ayestas
          • Carlos Trevino
          • Charles Don FLores
          • Christopher Wilkins
        • D-E-F >
          • Douglas Tyrone Armstrong
          • Duane Edward Buck
          • Elroy Chester
          • Fabian Hernandez
        • G-H-I >
          • Gary Green
          • Gerald Marshall
          • Guadalupe Esparza
          • Hector Medina
          • Humberto Garza
        • J-K-L >
          • James Broadnax
          • Juan Castillo
          • Jesse Joe Hernandez
          • Joe M. Luna
          • John Battalglia
          • John Allen Rubio
          • John M. Quintanilla >
            • The true story
          • John H. Ramirez
          • Joseph Gamboa
          • Juan Alvarez
          • Ker'Sean Ramey
          • LeJames Norman
        • M-N-O >
          • Manuel Velez
          • Milton Dwayne Gobert
          • Nelson Gongora
        • P-Q-R >
          • Pablo Melendez
          • Pablo Vasquez
          • Paul David Storey
          • Pete Russel
          • Preston Hughes >
            • The case
            • The case
          • Ramiro Ibarra
          • Ramiro Gonzalez
          • Raul Cortez
          • Ray Freeney
          • Robert Campbell
          • Ronald Hamilton
          • Ronnie Threadgill
          • Rosendo Rodriquez
          • Ricardo Vasquez
          • Ruben Gutierrez
        • S-T-U >
          • Santos Minjarez
          • Selwyn Davis
          • Stanley Griffin
          • Travis Runnels >
            • Reality Row
        • V-W-X >
          • Walter Sorto
          • Wesley Ruiz
          • William Rayford
        • Y-Z
      • Prison >
        • A-B-C >
          • Allan Bailey
          • Andrell Thompson
          • Andrew Sindt
          • Anthony Wiley
          • Bennie Price
          • Chad Davis >
            • Photos
            • Music
          • Charles Anthony Allen
          • Charlie Harris
          • Christopher Garcia
        • D-E-F >
          • Danny Dixon
          • Danny Spence
          • David Montanez
          • Doyal Garrett
          • Eliott Guerrero >
            • Poems
          • Emanuel Camacho Gomez
          • Fernando Puente
        • G-H-I >
          • Gerardo LLanas
          • Haywood Chambers
          • Irvan K. Beverly
          • Isaac Tamayo
        • J-K-L >
          • Jacob Sotello
          • James Michael Sepesi
          • Jeremiah D. Crow
          • Jerry Bradford
          • Jose Eloy Salazar
          • Joshua Paul De Leon
          • Julio Marcos
          • Kevin Cupples
          • Loerey Bernal
        • M-N-O >
          • Marcus Long
          • Mario Harris
          • Michael Betts
          • Michael Brown
          • Michael Montgomery
          • Odell Baker
        • P-Q-R >
          • Paul Polk
          • Phil Moss
          • Reid Whitesides
          • Robert Arambula
          • Robert Dudley
          • Robert McClure
          • Robert Torres
          • Roger Uvalle
          • Roosevelt Smith Jr.
        • S-T-U >
          • Travis Prunty
          • Tristan Williams
        • V-W-X
        • Y-Z
  • Zambia
    • Kabwe >
      • Joseph Sambwe Musonda
      • Justine Mumbi
      • Kennedy C. Chongo
  • The Netherlands
    • www.bonjo.nl
  • Contact
  • News updates
  • donations
  • Books

Review: Theatre Conspiracy explores plight of wrongfully accused in 'The Exonerated'

2/16/2012

0 Comments

 
_Review: Theatre Conspiracy explores plight of wrongfully accused in 'The
Exonerated'


"The Exonerated" runs through Feb. 24 at Theatre Conspiracy in Fort Myers.

Event Details.What: Play: "The Exonerated"

Where: Theatre Conspiracy

Cost: $18

Age limit: 18+

IF YOU GO.What: Drama about Death Row inmates wrongfully accused, then set free

When: 8 p.m. Feb. 16, 17, 18, 23, 24; one 2 p.m. matinee on Feb. 19

Where: Foulds Theater at the Lee County Alliance of the Arts complex, 10091
McGregor Boulevard, Fort Myers

Cost: $18; $10 for students

Information: 239-936-3239 or theatreconspiracy.org

Something Else: Some profanity and racial epithets.

Theatre Conspiracy turns its spotlights onto the justice system with their
latest production "The Exonerated." The simple, moving drama examines the
stories of 6 death row prisoners wrongly accused, sentenced to die, imprisoned
and eventually freed. You can't leave the theater un-moved.

"The Exonerated" comes from Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank. The pair interviewed
60 former death row inmates. 6 interviews - 5 men and 1 woman - form the core
of "The Exonerated." A tour of the Off-Broadway production, starring Lynn
Redgrave and Robert Vaughn, played the Naples Philharmonic in March 2004.

Our criminal justice system fares poorly in eyes of "The Exonerated." While the
show sidesteps a debate on the death penalty itself, it strongly condemns a
system where "justice" can be corrupted to the point that an innocent person
faces execution.

The show also treats "the exonerated" like saints. In real life, few of them
were, but it helps the narrow focus of the production. Remember too that death
is an either/or proposition - and that's what "The Exonerated" tries to smash
into audiences: why kill at all when there's the possibility that you're
killing innocent people?

Theatre Conspiracy's production was forced to substitute an actor the day
before opening. Curtis Lee Jones replaces an injured Don Manley in the role of
Delbert. The character of David, a deeply spiritual African-American, is also
missing.

Director J. Mitchell Haley spreads his nine actors in tall chairs in a shallow
semi-circle on a pitch-black stage. Shafts of light beam down to illustrate
each actor as they speak, then shift to another part of the stage. Clanging
jailhouse doors, gavels, gunshots - or the unmistakable zap of the electric
chair - ring out at some points.

The presentation proves powerful, poignant and moving, although letting actors
(obviously excusing Jones) keep the script at easels in front of or beside
their chairs distracts from the simplicity of the show. While refreshing to see
newcomers on the stage, the presentations sometimes feels like a reading - and
takes a few actors away from giving additional depth to their characters.

Haley's actors succeed best when they simply step forward and give voice to the
words of the wrongfully accused. The playwrights dug through court records,
courthouse files, depositions, interrogations and testimony. Much of the play
is reconstructed from the actual words of the participants. The authenticity of
"real people, real words" sings in a way that scripts sometimes don't.

Denise Scott slips off her chair and into the role of Sonia "Sunny" Jacobs like
she's putting on a pair of shoes. Quietly, Scott describes the case of the 1st
woman sentenced to die in Florida's electric chair. Wrong place, wrong time,
definitely the wrong boyfriend. She talks about bullets, policemen screaming at
her, a public defender and using Japanese kanji to carry on a secret love life
in her prison letters.

But it is her simple, eloquent - and entirely horrifying - description of her
boyfriend's death in the electric chair that makes the most impact. Jesse
Tafero's case became famous after the equipment malfunctioned, causing flames
to shoot from his head; it took 13 and a half minutes for him to die.

Mike Breen and Jamie Carmichael step into a variety of roles as the bold, ugly
face of a corrupt justice system. With just a few words and gestures in places,
they make you despise the people they portray. Carmichael's thundering
prosecutorial monologue taken from the case of Kerry Max Cook is one of the
play's most shocking moments.

Ken Johnson brings a hippie vibe to Gary, who faced a 21-hour police
interrogation and was badgered into confessing to the double murder of his
parents. Johnson's simple grace as he talks through the trying episode makes
the events all the more compelling.

Jamie Hutteman and Tiffany J. Campbell take on various ensemble roles as wives,
judges and girlfriends. Hutteman offers a sympathetic face to the people who
help the accused adjust after a life in prison. Campbell add snap as a
girlfriend and loudmouth judge.

Even if it avoids a debate on the morals of the death penalty, "The Exonerated"
makes it impossible not to think about the consequences of handing down such a
sentence. While the show stumbles in places - and the production didn't have
the smoothest path to the stage - it ignites a thousand questions about our
justice system in the minds of its audiences.

(source: Naples Daily News)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012

    Categories

    All
    Abu Dhabi
    Alabama
    Alaska
    Amnesty International
    Arizona
    Arkansas
    Australia
    Bahrain
    Bangladesh
    Barbados
    Belarus
    Book
    Botswana
    California
    Canada
    China
    Colorado
    Connecticut
    Dakota
    Delaware
    Documentary
    Egypt
    Film
    Florida
    Gaza
    Georgia
    Ghana
    Global
    Guantanamo
    Guyana
    Human Rights Watch
    Idaho
    Illinois
    India
    Indiana
    Indonesia
    Iowa
    Iran
    Iraq
    Israel
    Jamaica
    Japan
    Kansas
    Keith Thurmond
    Kentucky
    Kuwait
    Lebanon
    Liberia
    Libya
    Louisiana
    Malaysia
    Maldives
    Maryland
    Massachusetts
    Mental Retardation
    Mexico
    Michican
    Military
    Minnesota
    Mississippi
    Missouri
    Montana
    Morocco
    Movie
    Nebraska
    Nevada
    New Jersey
    New Mexico
    New York
    New Zealand
    Nigeria
    North Carolina
    North Korea
    Norway
    Ohio
    Oklahoma
    Oregon
    Pakistan
    Pennsylvania
    Philippines
    Portugal
    Rhode Island
    Russia
    Saudi Arabia
    Singapore
    Sister Helen Prejean
    South Africa
    South Carolina
    South Dakota
    Sri Lanka
    Sudan
    Syria
    Taiwan
    Tanzania
    Television
    Tennessee
    Texas
    Thailand
    Theatre
    TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
    Tulsa
    Tunesia
    Uganda
    Ukraine
    United Arab Emirates
    United Kingdom
    Urgent Appeal
    Usa
    Us Military
    Utah
    Vietnam
    Virginia
    Washington
    World
    Wyoming
    Yemen
    Zimbabwe

    RSS Feed

Powered by
✕