Stockard Channing, Brooke Shields and More Set for Culture Project's THE EXONERATED, Beginning 9/15

Culture Project (Allan Buchman, Founder & Artistic Director), celebrates its return to the theaters at 45 Bleecker Street with the award-winning 10th anniversary production of the hit play, The Exonerated, written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, presented in special association with The Innocence Project, Directed by Bob Balaban (Gosford Park), the rotating cast will feature Stockard Channing, Brian Dennehy, John Forté, and Brooke Shields. Exoneree Sunny Jacobs, whose story is shared within the play, joins the cast for one-week, September 25 – 30. Additional casting will be announced shortly.

Performances begin are set to begin Saturday, September 15, 2012 for a limited seven-week engagement through Sunday, November 4, 2012 at Culture Project (45 Bleecker Street at Lafayette Street). Opening night is set for Wednesday, September 19, 2012.

2012 marks the 10th anniversary of Culture Project's New York premiere of The Exonerated, a ground breaking dramatization of the real-life stories of six individuals who were sentenced to death and later freed amidst overwhelming evidence of their innocence. It is a powerful play culled from interviews, letters, transcripts, case files and court records of individuals on death row. As timely as ever, The Exonerated is once again poised to increase visibility and to create a sense of urgency as part of a rising movement to restore justice to a system that has shown itself time and again to be deeply flawed. Since 1989, when the first DNA exoneration took place, an additional 292 post-conviction DNA exonerations have been won in 36 states.

"When authors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen -- newly in love and wildly enthusiastic -- first approached me with their idea for The Exonerated I got chills," staTed Allan Buchman, Culture Project Founder & Artistic Director. He went on to add, "It occurred to me then that ideas like theirs were the reason to have a theater. There are 2.4 million people in the American prison system -- a population that is all but invisible to the general public. The Exonerated, with its narrative of struggle courage and hope, sheds crucial light on elements of our criminal justice system that must be changed. I believe that work this compelling can absolutely spur seismic and vital social change. Yes, this is the reason to have a theater, and how lucky for us that we have our theater back!"

The Exonerated premiered at Culture Project in October 2002 when it received critical acclaim and ran for over 600 performances. The New York Times declared, "How often do you feel that what you are seeing is a matter of life and death? Here we see six people who served hard, cruel time on death row before evidence proved them innocent. The stage is courtroom and living room; these people are intrusting their lives to us. Their stories intersect, but the differences between them strengthen the awful likeness that justice imposes when it is blind and deaf."

The rotating cast of actors who have previously appeared in The Exonerated include Mary J. Blige, Gabriel Byrne, Mia Farrow, Jeff Goldblum, Mariska Hargitay, Lyle Lovett, Alanis Morisette, Lynn Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, Brooke Shields, Marlow Thomas, Robin Williams, among many others, and was performed at the United Nations and for Washington, D.C. audiences that included Senator Patrick Leahy, Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno, Former U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White, Supreme Court Justice David Souter, and several members other the Justice Department.

Former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno had this to share, "What has been done through this play is one of the most extraordinary events I have ever seen, and it will do more to promote justice than any literary efforts I have seen." With Senator Patrick Leahy adding, "Brilliantly conceived, staged and acted, but its soul-scouring and heart-wrenching power comes by opening a window on to a broken system whose mistakes ripple out to roil countless lives, and whose score is tolled in life and death."

The Exonerated received the Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Ovation, Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards, and was nominated for the Hull-Warriner Award and the John Gassner Playwriting Award. It also received awards from Amnesty International, the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Death Penalty Focus, and Court TV, and was listed by the New York Times as "The Number 1 Play of 2002." It has been translated into Spanish, French, Italian and Japanese, and was made into an award-winning movie for Court TV adapted by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen , starring Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Brian Dennehy, Aidan Quinn and Delroy Lindo.

Over the past 10 years, Culture Project has maintained a relationship with the exoneree's and last fall celebrated the wedding of Sunny Jacobs, whose story is shared in the play, and Peter Pringle.

The Exonerated will play the following performance schedule: Tuesday – Thursday at 8:00 p.m., Friday at 7:00 p.m., Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. & 7:00 p.m. Please note: there is an added performance on Monday, September 17 at 8:00 p.m. and no performance on Thursday, September 20.

Tickets are priced at $75 (Premium at $99), with student tickets at $30, and available online at cultureproject.org or via phone by calling OvationTix at (866) 811-4111.