Stories of exonerated death-row inmates come alive on Gallo Stage

The true stories of exonerated death-row inmates sets the stage for the inaugural show from the Gallo Center Repertory Company.

The new in-house theater company from Gallo Center for the Arts joins forces with Sankofa Theatre Company to present the play “The Exonerated” on Friday and Saturday, July 8-9, in the Foster Theatre. The play, by American writers Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, examines what happens to six people who are wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The convictions all eventually are overturned and they are released.

Unlike a more traditional play, “The Exonerated” has actors speaking directly to the audience. All 10 actors in the show are on stage the whole time as well.

“This is like a storytelling play. The audience is hearing this like a friend, someone they knew, telling them what happened,” said Gallo Rep Artistic Director Jim Johnson, who directs the play.

Playing the exonerated inmates will be Sankofa founders John Ervin and Greg Savage, veteran Modesto actors and director David Barbaree as well as Joe Hypes, Kimberly Ogden and Willie Williams.

Johnson said teaming with Sankofa, Modesto’s first and only African American theater company, for the production made sense because of the diverse nature of the cast and topic of criminal justice reform. He has worked with the company since its first show, “The Piano Lesson,” in 2013.

“I feel like a proud elder who has helped nurture this company and seen them grow. I am really proud of the work they are doing for a community of our size with such a small African American population. This is really truly unique to have such a fine African American theater company here,” Johnson said.

The serious subject matter of this joint endeavor, Johnson said, dovetails with ongoing and current events like the Black Lives Matter movement and racial profiling. Two competing propositions addressing California’s death penalty could appear on the November ballot as well.

“This is certainly political theater; it’s the theater of advocacy,” Johnson said. “There will be two props on the ballot in California, one to abolish and another one to potentially speed up executions; this will be a topic people will be talking about.”

The play will include a post-show discussion with the Rev. Earl Smith, a former chaplain at San Quentin State Prison who worked with many death-row inmates.

While the show comes from a definite point of view, Johnson said everyone in the cast and crew hopes it will start a dialogue on the issue of mass incarceration, criminal justice reform and the death penalty.

“It’s something we talked about when we first started rehearsing the play. People coming, audience members will have different opinions on capital punishment. But I think we can safely say no one is in favor of an innocent person being sent to prison or executed,” he said. “It’s about reforming the criminal justice system.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2016 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Stories of exonerated death-row inmates come alive on Gallo Stage."