Shubert Theatre
Tickets: Ticketmaster
Through February 16
Who says theatre can't be timely? Former Illinois Governor George Ryan recently made headlines when he commuted the sentences of a great number of death row prisoners. Right on the heels of that, as if in response to it, comes Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s powerful play, The Exonerated.
A powerful and understated statement on the American justice system, The Exonerated has been brought to Chicago with a magnificent cast, among them stars Brian Dennehy and Marlo Thomas. Dennehy and Thomas are part of an incredible ensemble cast, comprised of a lot of Broadway veterans. The Exonerated is brilliantly and horribly riveting.
The characters The Exonerated are based on real people, and these are their stories. All of the words spoken in this play are taken from actual interviews, court transcripts and other documents. Simply staged by Bob Balaban, the actors sit on high stools and relate their horrific and sometimes humorous stories to us. The stories you hear are intensely powerful, made more powerful, perhaps, because they are true. The exonerated – Kerry Max Cook (Bruce MacVittie), Gary Gauger (Mr. Dennehy), Robert Earl Hayes (Ed Blunt), Sunny Jacobs (Ms. Thomas), David Keaton (Chad L. Coleman) and Delbert Tibbs (William Jay Marshall), all give us a gradual unfolding of their tragic stories. These people, all wrongfully convicted, spent from 2 to 22 years on death row - each of them a victim of an over-eager criminal justice system. Completing the cast are Larry Block, Jim Bracchitta, Johanna Day and Tracy Thoms, who play multiple roles to flesh out the stories.
The structure Blank and Jensen have chosen works perfectly. We progress from the crime, to court, to prison and to exoneration, and then to aftermath. What is important is that all of the characters get a voice, and Blank and Jensen have complied beautifully.
The actors all deliver pitch-perfect performances. In a cast this strong, it is nearly impossible to talk about standout performances, but I must mention Marlo Thomas as Sunny Jacobs, Brian Dennehy as Gary Gauger, Bruce MacVittie as Kerry Max Cook and Chad L. Coleman as David Keaton.
If you don’t see the The Exonerated, you will surely miss one of the most mesmerizing performances you will ever see. I want to see it again.
If you want to contribute to the Center for Wrongful Convictions, you can mail a donation to: Center for Wrongful Convictions, ATTN: Lawrence Marshall, Northwestern University School of Law, 357 E. Chicago Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.
