Next Act Theater opened the fall season in its brand-new home, a converted manufacturing building located in a warehouse district, just a few blocks south of downtown Milwaukee. Donations for the building project topped $1 million - quite a feat in these tough economic times.
To open its new facility, the company mounted an ambitious production of The Exonerated. The “ambitious” aspect is that the play involves 10 characters – far more than Next Act typically employs. Plus, noted director Ed Morgan was brought onboard for the production as well.
The Exonerated first opened in Los Angeles in 2002 in a production directed by the playwrights (Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen). Later that year, the play opened Off-Broadway at Bleecker Street Theater, directed by Bob Balaban. It ran for two years. At times, celebrity actors such as Richard Dreyfuss and the late Jill Clayburgh appeared in the play. A cable TV version of the piece was made in 2005, starring Susan Sarandon, Brian Dennehy and Danny Glover.
The play tells the true story of five American men and one American woman who were convicted and sentenced to death for crimes they did not commit. Between them, these six people spent over 100 years on death row before the criminal justice system finally corrected its errors and freed them.
In the Next Act production, the audience is riveted as tales unfold of bungled police investigations, political expediency and/or outright racism. In many cases, the imprisoned were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. Sometimes, as in the case of Kerry (Jonathan Wainwright), a thumbprint left on the victim’s door jamb was enough evidence to convict him of murder. (The jury wasn’t convinced that the thumbprint was made two years before the murder.)
Another former inmate, Gary (Bo Johnson), was so shocked by his parents’ murder that he was still stunned by the time the police arrested him. Under intense questioning, he agreed to pose a hypothetical case of how-I would-do-it. This was later used in court as his “confession.”
Some of the most chilling testimony comes from Sunny (Tami Workentin), the young mother of two children. “I was a hippie, a vegetarian,” she says. “I had no ‘dream team,’ no investigators,” she continues, in a veiled reference to the O.J. Simpson court case. Although Sunny never touched a weapon, she and her fiancé were charged with killing two police officers. Some 16 years later, the prosecution’s star witness recanted his testimony (and admitted that he was the one who shot the police officers). However, by the time Sunny was freed, her children had grown up, her parents had died, and her fiancé, also held on Death Row, died in the electric chair.
A more philosophic note is taken by Delbert (Alfred H. Wilson). He writes poetry in his cell. His dreams and visions conjure the reality of prison: words such as “cold,” “tired” and “winter” appear frequently in his writings. He wonders how hope can survive in such a place.
Although the stories are bleak, the play isn’t as dark as one might guess. To his credit, director Ed Morgan keeps things moving at a brisk pace. The prisoner’s stories sometimes intersect, keeping the audience guessing until the ending of each story is revealed.
For most of the play, all 10 actors appear onstage. They stand, sit on a few chairs scattered around the stage or lean on large, flat rectangles that suggest various locations inside and outside the prisons.
Some lines that the former inmates deliver directly to the audience provide food for thought. How likely is it that any one of us could get caught up in the criminal justice system? What is the price of years wasted in a jail cell? The Exonerated demands some thoughtful consideration. Although the subject matter may be off-putting to some, the exceptional cast and excellent production overall should be enough to sway theatergoers to take a chance. It’s the type of play that Next Act does particularly well, and seeing the show is also a great way to embrace Milwaukee’s newest theater.
