“This show is ultimately about hope,” show producer Jessica Stone (COL’08) said after the first run of The Nomadic Theater’s production of The Exonerated.
Written by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, The Exonerated tells the story of over 100 Americans from vastly disparate economic and social statuses that have one thing in common—they had each been sentenced to die through our judicial system, and were subsequently exonerated of their crime. The story is told through the interviews of six main characters, each with a unique tale of how they arrived in their situations and the journey they endured in their quest for freedom.
With a run time of about 1 hour and 45 minutes (without intermission), the project seems intimidating for both the theater crew and its audience. The stage set-up and costumes are simple—a chair for each interviewee and simple, modern-day dress. There is no flash, no pomp, no circumstance. The production relies heavily on the ability of its actors to tell a story interestingly and be engaging enough to hold the audience’s attention. They do.
In such a bold theatrical undertaking, the cast, assembled by director Kevyn Bowles (COL ’09), will either make or break the show. It includes a mix of both veteran GU actors experienced enough to be entrusted with heavy roles, and several fresh faces Bowles plainly “knew would be right.” The cast works seamlessly together, telling their stories and indirectly interacting with each other (though they never say a single word to another character on stage). It is clear that they have formed a close bond since coming together in the first weeks of school, and the flow of the play reflects it.
At times, the play suffers from many of the pitfalls often accompanying productions that rely so heavily on monologues. With no props or interactions to fall back on, each actor is forced to portray their characters with nothing to hide behind. And while most excelled, the show suffered occasionally from a few moments of overacting and painfully bombastic speech. It remained clear, however, that the most important thing each actor had to offer was his or her story.
The stories they tell of the men and women sentenced unjustly to death by the American judicial system at first seem a far cry from something the average Hoya can relate to. Not many (if any) of us have experienced such difficulties as prison rape or being distanced from a lover by cell walls. Fortunately, the play offers much broader themes that many of us can relate to. Like it or not, members of our community are faced with the same challenges of social injustice, wrongful accusations and even institutionalized racism each day. While The Exonerated gives us insight as to just how unjust the world can be, it does something even more powerful: it leaves us with hope. The point of the production is not simply to point out how unfair and unjust things are in America, but to show us that we must think before we act. “We want to open minds,” Bowles said. And that’s just what The Exonerated does.
