In this adroitly staged reenactment
of testimony before the Grand Jury, in the highly volatile and angrily
denounced Missouri shooting of Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson, the
program states, ‘hear the truth on stage.’
But good Theater is not the same as
good Law and to reduce 25 days of testimony down to 90+ minutes, and select
only certain passages by a few witnesses, hardly delivers an unbiased report on
this controversial case.
By making the selections
he does, playwright Phelim McAleer begs the question: Who to believe? With only
words to work from, as a theatrical event this was intriguing and well staged,
but as a reenactment of the actual hearings it falls short. Yes, there was a
media frenzy over what really happened, and the grand jury did exonerate the
officer, but selectiveness only obscures the entire truth.
As theater it’s a great
show, but as an attempt to set rumors to rest it doesn't work. Verbatim
theatre is a noble concept but, through sub-text, an actor creates emotion that
can color a line with numerous interpretations.
Words in themselves are not
evidence and, unless you served on that Grand Jury, you can never know how each
witness impressed their audience.
These fine actors, under Nick
DeGruccio’s careful direction, were totally believable: Gigi Bermingham, Joel
Bryant, Warren Davis, Nicholas A. Goldreich, Sydney A. Mason, Charles McCoy,
E.P. McKnight, Onrico Nightingale, Jeremiah O’Brian, Kathleen O’Grady, Diane
Sellers and Carla Valentine. Produced by Racquel Lehrman and Victoria Watson of
Theatre Planners. Presented by Theatre Verité
Collective.
Four performances only. At the Odyssey Theatre, 2055 Sepulveda Blvd., West LA, April 26-29.
Tickets: (310) 477-2055 ext 2, or www.FergusonThePlay.com.
Actors photos by Peter
Duke.
As a political scientist, I'm a little startled to read that "words in themselves are not evidence." It seems clear to me that Darren Wilson did the best he could to protect himself and enforce the law. Michael Brown's own choices led to his death. I'm glad to see both the Grand Jury and this play, Ferguson, provide Officer Wilson with some justice after he was so unjustly smeared by our leftist media.
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