The continued legality of the death penalty in the United States continues to be a source of passionate debate, even as DNA and other late-arriving evidence ultimately has freed individuals sent to death row. How does a prisoner who has been sentenced to die—and who knows he is innocent—confront his fate?
Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s 2003 Drama Desk Award-winning play The Exonerated compiles interviews, correspondence, court transcripts and other documents to tell the true stories of six Americans caught in nightmarish circumstances when the justice system fails. There are sadly familiar tales of black men whose only crime was being where the white world didn’t want them to be; there are stories of those who remained incarcerated even after other evidence of their innocence emerged. There is despair, and—somehow, miraculously—there is hope. People Productions tells their stories, and invites you to listen.
The Exonerated @ Sorensen Unity Center, 1383 S. 900 West, 801-485-2497, Nov. 3-8.
