In one of the most powerful moments of “”The Exonerated“,” prison inmate David Keaton raises his hand to the sky and stops a torrential downpour—once, twice, three times. Keaton, sentenced to death in 1971, is awed by his own power and his faith in Christianity is for a brief time restored. Reenacting this memory, the shadow of Keaton’s outstretched hand filled an entire wall of the WestCo Cafe. The image is at once aesthetically beautiful, awe-inspiring, and frightening.
It is also an apt metaphor for “The Exonerated,” Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s intense and haunting play about six men and women released after years on death row. As Ben Brantley noted in his review of the original New York production, none of the former prisoners whose interviews are the basis for this piece will ever be free of their memories. Instead, they escaped death only to “exist in the extended shadows of death sentences.” Call it historical narrative, call it theater, call it sociopolitical critique, “The Exonerated” and its Oct. 27 to 29 Wesleyan production was valuable on multiple levels.
Director Anthony Nikolchev ’07 and set designer Jean Pockrus ’09 used the physical space of the WestCo Cafe creatively, managing to suggest prison cells by covering one whole wall with brown paper and duct tape. In an especially nice touch, each of the actors was lit with a flashlight hung directly above their chair. The small circle of harsh light that resulted simultaneously recalled prison interrogation rooms and heightened our sense of the speaker’s isolation. Intentionally or not, it also created the beautiful shadows that added a metaphorical register to the monologues.
Bob Balaban’s original New York production of “The Exonerated” was a staged reading: ten actors performed from behind music stands and physical movement was kept to a minimum. Nikolchev’s version was more theatrical. Actors played multiple roles, literally moving from chair to chair to indicate a change of character. While dramatic reading is in no way less powerful than a fully staged play, the choice to move away from dramatic reading is certainly a valid one. That said, there were a few places where Nikolchev’s staging tended to undermine the raw power of the text. Most striking among these was the fatal shooting of Kerry Max Cook’s brother, in which we actually see Aaron Sussman ’07 recoiling from the gun blast, hitting the wall, and slumping down as if dead. At another point, the executioner (Greg Malen ’07) turns a light on and off three times, repeating the word “executed” each time the light goes out. These choices were gimmicky and, I felt, unnecessary.
In another crucial change, the character of Delbert Tibbs, a seminary student convicted of rape and murder, was cut and his poetry played on a record controlled by the actors. Though this eliminated Tibbs’ physical presence and his story, the use of his poetry was a thoughtful choice, underscoring the fact that experiences can be passed on only as long as we have access to written or spoken narrative. Ultimately, however, the repeated act of getting up to turn on the record player was distracting and broke up the moments of intensity achieved by the cast. More importantly, without a detailed program note the deeper significance of the record was unclear.
Production issues aside, the actors clearly did a lot of hard work during the six-week rehearsal period. Thomas Phillips ’06, Evan Barton ’08, Katey Rich ’06, Lillian Ruiz ’08, and Sussman turned in solid performances as Gary Gauger, Robert Hayes, Sandra Cook and Sue Gauger, Georgia Hayes, and the prosecutor, respectively. Sophie Pollitt-Cohen ’09 was strong as the straight-talking Sunny Jacobs. The scene in which she and her partner Jesse, played beautifully by Malen, exchange love letters in prison was skillfully done, and one of the play’s most poignant moments.
But on Friday night, the real stars were Austin Purnell ’08 and Ari Brand ’06. As David Keaton and Kerry Max Cook, both actors brought a rare honesty and realism to their roles that were a privilege to watch. Amazingly, two college kids managed to be believable as victims of wrongful death sentences, sexual and physical abuse, and incapacitating depression. Purnell spoke so softly, in fact, that you almost believed you were in the cell with him. Because there was nothing artificial about them, they were able to pull off dramatic choices—Keaton’s outstretched hand, for example—that could otherwise seem overdone, and I wanted them to keep talking. Their nuanced performances reminded us that in “The Exonerated,” the characters are real people who endured truly harrowing experiences. There is no need to play up their parts because the stories these men and women have to tell are already unbelievable enough. And in the end, that is the scariest fact of all.
THE EXONERATED by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen; directed by Anthony Nikolchev ’08; stage manager Eliza Ford ’08; lighting and set designer Jean Pockrus ’09; costume designer Rachel Fischhoff ’08.
WITH Austin Purnell ’08 (DAVID KEATON), Ari Brand ’06 (KERRY MAX COOK), Katey Rich ’06 (SANDRA COOK/SUE GAUGER), Thomas Phillips ’06 (GARY GAUGER), Sophie Pollitt-Cohen ’09 (SUNNY JACOBS), Evan Barton ’08 (ROBERT HAYES), Lillian Ruiz ’08 (GEORGIA HAYES), Greg Malen ’07 (ENSEMBLE), Aaron Sussman ’07 (ENSEMBLE)
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