About THE PUSSY GRABBER PLAYS-2020
Proceeds Benefit Madison's Rape Crisis Center
Click here to learn more
About THE EXONERATED-2017
Raised $1500 for the Wisconsin Innocence Project
"This is not the place for thought that does not end in concreteness."
-Exoneree Delbert Tibbs
Culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and the public record, THE EXONERATED tells the true stories of six wrongfully convicted survivors of death row in their own words. Moving between first-person monologues and scenes set in courtrooms and prisons, the six interwoven stories paint a picture of an American criminal justice system gone horribly wrong—and of six brave souls who persevered to survive it.
Isthmus feature
Madison Magazine feature
The Exonerated in Madison will be performed as it was in its off-Broadway incarnation: As a reading, helping us as audience members be conscious of the fact that all of the words are directly from the mouths of the people at the heart of this story.
Madison cast:
The Exonerees:
Kerry Max Cook: David Neuser
Gary Gauger: James Aehl
Robert Earl Hayes: Reginald Kellum
David Keaton: Max Young-Jones
Sunny Jacobs: Stephanie Monday
Delbert Tibbs: Jalen Thomas
Loved ones, cops, lawyers, inmates, friends, and others:
Asiah Doyle, Brett Frazier, Shannon Harper, Sarah Brown Hadjimarkos, Paul Lorentz, Ben Ruyle, Autumn Shiley, Bart Terrell
-Exoneree Delbert Tibbs
Culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and the public record, THE EXONERATED tells the true stories of six wrongfully convicted survivors of death row in their own words. Moving between first-person monologues and scenes set in courtrooms and prisons, the six interwoven stories paint a picture of an American criminal justice system gone horribly wrong—and of six brave souls who persevered to survive it.
Isthmus feature
Madison Magazine feature
The Exonerated in Madison will be performed as it was in its off-Broadway incarnation: As a reading, helping us as audience members be conscious of the fact that all of the words are directly from the mouths of the people at the heart of this story.
Madison cast:
The Exonerees:
Kerry Max Cook: David Neuser
Gary Gauger: James Aehl
Robert Earl Hayes: Reginald Kellum
David Keaton: Max Young-Jones
Sunny Jacobs: Stephanie Monday
Delbert Tibbs: Jalen Thomas
Loved ones, cops, lawyers, inmates, friends, and others:
Asiah Doyle, Brett Frazier, Shannon Harper, Sarah Brown Hadjimarkos, Paul Lorentz, Ben Ruyle, Autumn Shiley, Bart Terrell
The Exonerees
|
David Neuser as Kerry Max Cook and Bart Terrell as Kerry's Prosecutor
|
Stephanie Monday as Sunny Jacobs
|
James Aehl as Gary Gauger
|
|
|
|
Director's Note
Several years ago, I happened upon a DVD at the library entitled The Exonerated. It was a filmed version of a play that had been presented off-Broadway, written by husband and wife team Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. I checked it out, watched it, and found my eyes opened to the deeply flawed justice system in which I had put my faith as an American citizen. In the years that followed, we as a society have begun to have more robust discussions about race, inequality, injustices, police corruption, and other issues that were at the heart of this remarkable play. I frequently thought back to it as we saw the Black Lives Matter movement come to fruition.
In 2015 when I, like millions of others, was devastated by the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, I was once again reminded of the stories at the heart of this play. Finally, with the election of Donald Trump, I decided that it was my responsibility as an artist to share stories with social justice themes in whatever way I could. Our way of life, particularly for those who are oppressed by racial or economical woes, is now at the forefront of American conversation. It was time to produce this play in Madison, a city with a strongly vested interest in equality and justice, located less than 150 miles from the town where the events depicted in Making a Murder had taken place.
Thank you to all who joined us in sharing this heart wrenching and surprisingly uplifting tale of humanity at its worst and best, and in supporting the important work of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which works daily to free those who are wrongly convicted. This play shows us only six stories. There are hundreds more.
Contact me at [email protected] or find VTP on Facebook here.
Several years ago, I happened upon a DVD at the library entitled The Exonerated. It was a filmed version of a play that had been presented off-Broadway, written by husband and wife team Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen. I checked it out, watched it, and found my eyes opened to the deeply flawed justice system in which I had put my faith as an American citizen. In the years that followed, we as a society have begun to have more robust discussions about race, inequality, injustices, police corruption, and other issues that were at the heart of this remarkable play. I frequently thought back to it as we saw the Black Lives Matter movement come to fruition.
In 2015 when I, like millions of others, was devastated by the Netflix documentary Making a Murderer, I was once again reminded of the stories at the heart of this play. Finally, with the election of Donald Trump, I decided that it was my responsibility as an artist to share stories with social justice themes in whatever way I could. Our way of life, particularly for those who are oppressed by racial or economical woes, is now at the forefront of American conversation. It was time to produce this play in Madison, a city with a strongly vested interest in equality and justice, located less than 150 miles from the town where the events depicted in Making a Murder had taken place.
Thank you to all who joined us in sharing this heart wrenching and surprisingly uplifting tale of humanity at its worst and best, and in supporting the important work of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which works daily to free those who are wrongly convicted. This play shows us only six stories. There are hundreds more.
Contact me at [email protected] or find VTP on Facebook here.
