Press

Monday, December 27, 2004

Best Theater

Theater doesn't get more relevant than The Justice Theater Project's "A Lesson Before Dying." On the stage was a drama about a wrongly accused prisoner awaiting his execution. In real life, a month before the play opened, there was North Carolina death row inmate Alan Gell, exonerated six years after a jury had found him guilty of murder. To underscore the connection, Gell introduced the play at one of its three Raleigh performances.

Throughout this election year, Triangle companies shed dramatic light on timely issues by staging plays with strong political resonance, from PlayMakers’ Repertory Company’s “Not About Heroes” and “The Tragedy of King Richard II” to Manbites Dog Theater’s “Nixon’s Nixon”, The Justice Theater Project’s “Nickel and Dimed” as well as “A Lesson Before Dying,” and Theatre Or’s staged readings of little-known Israeli plays.

On that note, we ring in the new year with a look back at the Top 10 locally produced shows of a stellar 2004:

“A Lesson Before Dying,” The Justice Theater Project. With Alan Gell’s release and with the Legislature considering a moratorium on the death penalty, this drama felt ever more chilling and urgent. Director Deb Royals demonstrated the power of activist theater with a poignant and haunting production.

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