Monday, June 17, 2013

“The Exonerated” at 2nd Story Theatre



By Richard Pacheco
While most theater companies plunge into summer with light hearted plays or sheer comedies, 2nd Story has propelled itself into summer with an often compelling indictment of the judicial system in America, called “The Exonerated” a play culled from  real life from interviews, court documents, letters and case files complied by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. These ordinary people were wrongly convicted and on Death Row,  and one was executed. The resulting drama is chilling and disturbing to witness the legal and moral wrongs involved and the corruption that led innocent people to be sentenced to death.
There is no set. The actors merely stroll about the Bristol Statehouse courtroom telling their tales of woe and miscarried justice. The roots of their failed justice are similar, from cops who railroad then for convictions, or being black in a white man’s world, or being rated out by a professional criminal. Taking its inspiration from real life details, it is a harrowing tale of justice gone awry with tragic consequences.
The tales go from their arrests to their time and death row and its consequences for them and their loved ones. Not only is is disturbing and shocking, it is also at times profoundly moving and touching.
The strength they show is nothing short of amazing as is the humanity they show and how they deal with their circumstances.
Tom Chase’s Gary was talked into confessing to the brutal murder of his parents. He cannot recall committing the crème, but relentless investigators will not let up unto he confesses. The investigators think he might have blocked it out and are looking for a quick solution and he is the target..
Joe Henderson’s Kerry is convicted of the murder of a woman he met once. Her boyfriend, is never a suspect to the police in the charade of justice. In prison, he is gang raped and they cut an obscene and demeaning phrase into his flesh. The repercussions ripple through the years.
Amos Harmrick, Jr. is a man who works at a stable, love horses and finds all that taken away from him even after he is released.
Edward V. Crews is David who laments losing his spark for life in the ordeal.
Joanne Fayan is Sunny, probably one of the most harrowing tales ins these tragedies. She and her husband are convicted on the word of a career criminal who murders tow police officers and blames them for a deal, taking advantage of the system, he who talks first gets the better deal.
The killer eventually recants his testimony, but not before she has been in prison for ten plus years and her husband has been brutally executed. Meanwhile her parents die and her children grow up. Her husband Jesse endurse4 a horrific death, being jabbed with electricity three times and taking thirteen minutes to die. Flames smolder from his head and smoke from his ears.
The two, in order to evade detection by guards write love letters to each other in Japanese, which they got from dictionaries. It is powerful and moving.
Ricardo Pitts-Wiley is Delbert, the poet of the group. He is a black man caught up in a messed up system and still manages to herald the country as a great one in spite of the injustice paid to him. As he puts it,  he is a poet and it’s not easy, but “he sings.”
This production does the same thing. With a stunning cast, it soars past the injustices to leave a passionate and positive view of people overcoming great inequities and difficulties, in a world stacked against them. The terrific cast comes from 2nd Story and from Mixed Magic Theatre.
Ed Shea directs with a firm touch, keeping the focus on these people overcoming these injustices while maintaining their humanity and the intense character these people find along the way.
“The Exonerated” runs through June 30 at the Bristol County Statehouse courtroom, 240 High Street in Bristol. Tickets are $30. Call 401-247-4200 or go to http://www.2ndstorytheatre.com

Monday, June 10, 2013

“House” and “Garden” at Trinity Rep



By Richard Pacheco

Trinity Rep’s latest offering by English playwright Alan Ayckbourn's "House & Garden" has a single cast performing two plays at the same time. “House” takes place upstairs while “Garden” goes on at the same time downstairs with the same cast. It is almost a live magic act as actors run back and forth between the two sets to perform and it is pure comic delight all the way.        

While the plays are connected, they are also independent productions which can stand alone. You would do yourself a disservice to see only one as both together pack a comic wallop that is sheer fun and a laugh a minute as well as having some touching moments.
            The plot revolves around the annual garden party of Trish and Teddy Platt and brings to a head that their marriage is headed for disaster in fact has been for many years because Teddy does not have the word fidelity in his vocabulary and cannot keep his pants on around other women.
Teddy is not the most secretive of fellows and everyone knows he is having an affair with his best friend’s wife. Only his best friend doesn’t know. Upstairs is the well to do members  and their guests, a marginal French movie stars, a famed mystery writer with political connections and an aim to convince Teddy to follow in the family tradition set my his father, grandfather and great grandfather in politics and run for Parliament. Meanwhile the garden hosts mostly the staff, the hired help like the sullen and cranky gardener, Warn,
Both plays center on Teddy, played with comic aplomb by Fred Sullivan Jr. and the women he is involved with, his wife, Trish played with a chilly distance and flair by Anne Scurria and his mistress the frenetic and crazed Angela Brazil.
Fred Sullivan Jr. Plays Teddy with a flair for his cavalier attitude towards marriage and sex, a charming man who is a total cad to his wife.
Anne Scurria plays Trish, his wife with icy aloofness, borne of years of long suffering knowledge that her marriage is over. She makes it hysterically funny.
Angela Brazil plays Joanna, an elementary school teacher with frantic finesse. When Teddy breaks up with her, she goes completely hysterical and looses it, turning into a total psycho, delusion and violent, ending up in a fist fight with the French movie star in the fountain.
Stephen Throne plays Teddy’s best friend Giles with understated skill. Giles is kind but clueless, nice to the point of being delusional and out of touch with reality—he blames himself for his wife’s affair with no blame at all on her.
There is strong support coming from the rest of the cast. Janice Duclos is sheer fun as the no nonsense housekeeper who is looking for the gardener to be a father to her feisty daughter.  Catherine Dupont is a hoot as her sexually provocative daughter, Pearl. Barry M. Press is a riot as the sullen gardener Warn with few lines but evokes tons of laughter with his body language. Bridget Saracino is on the mark as Teddy and Trish politically motivated daughter who wants to carry on the family tradition in politics. Stephen Jaenhert is delightful as her friend but wannabe boyfriend Jake, who is son to Joanna and Giles.
There is more fine support coming from Joe Wilson Jr., Phyllis Kay (who speaks no English in the role of the actress, just French), and Barbara Meek as well as the ill fitting couple played by Mary C. Davis and Ted Moeller. The children add a delightful touch to it all.
The plays are directed with wacky precision by Brian McEleney who keeps everything right on track and the laughs follow one right after another.
Ackbourn is a theatrical master (with 72 plays produced) and what could be merely an amusing exercise on the page turns into and vital, vibrant and truly funny production onstage with its deft balancing of timing and some touching moments as well.
The Eugene Lee set is a wonder. The upstairs set of the English manor house is perfect with ancestral portraits and stuffed animal heads abounding. The Garden set is a delight of astro turf and columns disguised as impressive trees and a charming fountain.
William Lane’s costume design is on target. Thom Jones dialect coaching is impeccable for all cast members.
"House & Garden" runs through June 30 at Trinity Rep, 201 Washington St., Providence. Tickets are $28-$68. Call (401) 351-4242, or visit trinityrep.com