REVIEW: ‘The Exonerated’ documents Death Row survivors

Saturday, 22 September 2012 09:50

Culture Project revives a hit docu-drama about people wrongly condemned to die

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

Heartbreaking stories of real life Americans unjustly condemned as murderers to waste dozens of years on death row, “The Exonerated” first was produced by Culture Project to deserving acclaim in 2002.

The 90-minute piece now returns to the Culture Project, where the show retains its power to outrage. Smoothly adapted from more than 60 interviews by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the docu-drama starkly presents an eye-opening narrative of cruel injustice.

Blatant racism, legal miscarriage and homophobia are among the forces that slammed these half a dozen innocent people behind bars in the decades before DNA testing. Their stories are disturbing.

Simplest sometimes works best in theater, and Bob Balaban’s staging for “The Exonerated” is extremely simple. A row of ten stools and music stands are arranged across the darkened stage, where the actors appear in casual denim and flannel to tell their interspersed stories in concert.

A rotating crew of name performers assumes four of the parts for several weeks – currently it’s Stockard Channing, Brian Dennehy, Delroy Lindo and Chris Sarandon – while a terrific ensemble comprised of Jim Bracchitta, Amelia Campbell, Bruce Kronenberg, Curtis McClarin, April Yvette Thompson and JD Williams remains for the run of the show.

Lit with quiet sensitivity by Tom Ontiveros, the actors deliver very natural, conversational renditions of these late 20th-century tragedies, which won’t be described here. It will suffice only to say that they’re compelling.

The authors have not updated the profiles nor have they added any fresher cases, so “The Exonerated” seems like a period piece of the 1970s-90s rather than a contemporary work. Nonetheless, the play and its excellent players offer arresting testaments to American injustice.

“The Exonerated” continues through Nov. 4 at Culture Project, 45 Bleecker St., New York. Call (866) 811-4111 or visit www.cultureproject.org.