What if you were sentenced to death for a crime you didn’t commit?
It’s surprising how often innocent people are sentenced to death in this country. For those who manage to win in court after years of appeals, the damage done by their time on death row is incalculable.
This month, Vashon Repertory Theatre (VRT) will stage three performances of the play “The Exonerated,” which tells the stories of six people who collectively spent more than 100 years on death row before being exonerated for crimes they did not commit.
The production, co-sponsored by the Criminal Justice Action Team of the Vashon-Maury chapter of SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) will take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 25 and 26, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 27, in the Kay White Hall of Vashon Center for the Arts.
Playwrights Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank based their characters on extensive interviews with real people.
The result is a play that illuminates some of the most egregious and urgent flaws in the American justice system while affirming that its frequent undue criminalization of innocent, marginalized people amounts to a state-committed atrocity. The characters in “The Exonerated,” like their real-life counterparts, display the strength of their humanity even under the immense pressure of life on death row, with humor and beauty in some of the most inconceivably bleak situations.
New York Times critic Ken Jaworowski wrote, “There’s a distinct sound made by audience members watching “The Exonerated.” It’s a sharp exhale, part incredulous, part angry, and delivered with a wince or a shake of the head. That sound is a visceral reaction to stories of people unjustly sentenced to die. It staves off the compulsion to cry out, or maybe just to cry.”
Each performance will be followed by a talkback with the audience.
On Friday night, the cast will discuss their connections with the characters.
On Saturday night, Amanda Knox, exonerated after four years in an Italian prison from a wrongful murder conviction, will discuss her work with “The Innocence Project.”
Following the Sunday matinee, a panel of three experts will participate in an audience discussion about the United States justice system past and present. They are Michele Storms, executive director of ACLU Washington; David Heppard, executive director of the WA Freedom Project, and Lara Zarowsky, executive and policy director of the Washington State Innocence Project.
Performing in the play are islanders Kenny Alton, Anthony Winkler, Catherine MacNeal, Dedra Whitt and Maria Glanz. Meghan Ames, Harris Levinson and Christopher Kehoe, who are former islanders, are also in the show. Actors from the mainland are Brad Thomas, Ronnie Hill and Rowin Breaux.
To guarantee seating to “The Exonerated,” patrons may purchase tickets in advance at vashoncenterforthearts.org. Walk-up admission will be pay-what-you-will, with a suggested donation of $25 while seats remain. Patrons are required to show vaccine certification and wear masks.
An advisory for parents: The material in this play is sometimes dark and is not suitable for children under 13.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misidentified several members of the cast of the show, transposing their names with the names of the characters they portray in the play.
