CRT Presents THE EXONERATED 10/9-18 At The Nafe Katter

Connecticut Repertory Theatre (CRT) will present Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's The Exonerated, October 9 - 18 in the Nafe Katter on the Storrs campus. For tickets and information, call 860-486-4226 or visit www.crt.uconn.edu.

THE PLAY

"It's not easy to find some quiet place. some grace. Not time to talk about dreams in this world where ice is everywhere." - Delbert 

Wrongly convicted, these six people were condemned to death row for years. Their nightmarish stories are told here through interwoven scenes and monologues derived from actual court transcripts, interviews and letters. Although eventually freed by DNA and other evidence, these gripping stories depict the personal devastation that occurs when our justice system misfires. The survival stories of these six brave individuals are extraordinary, and provide a promise of hope and redemption.

Winner of the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and the 2003 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, The Exonerated brings to life the compelling stories of Delbert, Gary, Kerry, Robert, David, and Sunny. Six people who were very nearly wrongly executed, but lived to tell their stories. Ranging from two years on death row to more than twenty, their stories reveal the horrors behind death row, the ignorance of their communities upon their release and their struggle to reintegrate themselves into society as the exonerated.
Director Dale Rose said, "The Exonerated is a powerful indictment of our criminal justice system. Working on this play fills me with anger and hope. Anger, because of the more than 800 individuals sentenced to death between 1976 and 2003; one in eight cases has been wrongfully convicted. Hope, because of the individuals who, like the six cases in The Exonerated, have survived and seek positively to change this injustice. I believe this to be a mesmerizing evening of theatre that makes us think even as we are pulled into the real lives and circumstances depicted."

THE CREATIVE TEAM
Dale Rose (Director) is the Interim Artistic Director of CRT and the Director of Performance Studies for the MFA and BFA Actor Training Programs in the Department of Theatre Arts. For CRT he has directed productions of Pericles, Arabian Nights, Restoration Comedy and As You Like It. Mr. Rose last served as Director of the School of Theatre and Dance at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. He was the Director of Performance Training at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Mr. Rose was Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Festival of Dallas where, among others, he directed Earle Hyman in King Lear and Morgan Freeman in Othello. He was Artistic Director of the Plaza Theatre, also in Dallas, where he worked with John Goodman, Mariel Hemingway and Zakes Mokae. Again in Dallas, he was a co-founder of Stage #1. He began his professional directing career as founder and Artistic Director of the Alice People Theatre in Tampa.

The Design team includes, Michael Anania, Scenic Designer; Mike Billings, Lighting Designer; Jeanette Drake, Costume Designer, Jack Nardi, Sound Design; Dassia Posner, Dramaturg and Karen Ryker, Text & Dialect Director.

THE CAST

The cast will feature equity actor Cedric Turner as Delbert.

Cedric H. Turner (Delbert) just finished creating the role of Old Man Henry in Levee Lee Simon's new critically acclaimed play "Same Train". He can currently be seen as the bluesman in the opening credits of the Dave Chappell Show. He has performed in theatres in New York City and across the country in such roles as Frank in West Memphis Mojo, Levee in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Boy Willie in Piano Lesson, and as Martin Luther King in The Meeting and in musicals he has portrayed Jim in Big River, Pippen and both roles of Guitar Man and Joe Spunk. He has been off-Broadway, national and international tours of the Negro Ensemble Company's production of A Soldier's Play, in which he played C.J. Memphis. He has appeared at The Public Theatre, La Mama ETC, New York Theatre Workshop, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Signature Theatre, Yale Rep, Crossroads Theatre, North Carolina Rep, GeVa Theatre, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Hartford Stage Company, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Milwaukee Repertory Theatre. He is featured in the film The Cusp. His television roles have included Another World, Loving, Law & Order, and The Sopranos. Turner has been an announcer and talk show host for WVEZ FM Easy Listening radio in the Kentucky/Indiana area. He has been in more than 30 national and regional television commercials. As a playwright, Turner is the winner of the New Professional Theatre 2001 Writers Festival in New York for his play Clock Watcher's Rumor. He has just finished a one-man musical, Get Off The Stage And For God Sake Quit Acting, as well as his first novel. 

It will also feature graduate acting students Brooks Brantly as Robert, Kevin Coubal as Gary, Christina Greer as Sunny, Phil Korth as Kerry, Philip AJ Smithey as David.

Brooks Brantly (Robert) is a 2nd year MFA actor at UConn and Graduate of Morehouse College. He last appeared in CRT's production of Hair. Past credits include: Pericles (Antiochus); the Graduate Acting Project, The Winter's Tale (Leontes); Blues for an Alabama Sky (Sam), Julius Caesar (Brutus) and Sexual Perversity in Chicago (Bernie).

Kevin Coubal (Gary) is a 2nd year MFA acting candidate. He recently appeared in CRT's productions of Hair (Tribe) and Pericles (Cerimon, French Knight) and was in the MFA showcase production of The Winter's Tale (Autolycus). He is a graduate of the University of Oregon where his productions included: Endgame (Clov), Measure for Measure (Angelo), La Dispute (The Prince), The Big Knife (Smiley Coy), The Lesson (The Pupil). He also acted for Willamette Repertory Theatre in Wild Oats (Harry Thunder).

Christina Sanchez-Greer (Sonia Jacobs "Sunny") is a 2nd year MFA actor at UConn. She last appeared in CRT's productions of Hair (Tribe), Pericles (Lychorida/Diana) and the Graduate Acting Project, The Winter's Tale (Perdita). She is a graduate of The University of Nevada, Las Vegas and has appeared in Bye Bye Birdie (Ursula Merkle), Eagle (Felicia) and Up the Downstaircase (Rachel). She has also worked in Tony n' Tina's Wedding at the Rio Hotel in Las Vegas.

Philip AJ Smithey (David) is a 2nd year MFA Actor. He received a BA in theater studies from Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA. Past credits include: CRT - Hud in Hair, Simonides in Pericles, Shepherd in the Graduate Acting Project, The Winter's Tale, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Motel Kamzoil in Fiddler on the Roof, Mr. West in Two Trains Running and Milo Tindle in Sleuth.

Phil Korth (Kerry) is a 2nd year MFA Actor at UConn. Past credits includes: Greg in the Graduate Performance Workshop production of Reasons to Be Pretty, Lysimachus in Pericles, Antigonus and the Clown in the Graduate Acting project, The Winter's Tale. He is a graduate of Western Michigan University where he appeared in Lion in Winter (Richard Lionheart), Proof (Hal), and Dead Man Walking (Matthew Poncelet).

The ensemble cast will also feature MFA actors Gretchen Goode, Ryan Guess, Robbie Thompson, Jr., and Brian Patrick Williams; BFA actors Brittany Green and Aarron Lloyd. 

INFORMATION
Please call 860-486-4226 for tickets or for more information. Please call the box office or visit for specific show dates and times because performance schedules vary and are subject to change.

Evening performances start at 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and at

8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Matinee performances start at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices range from $11- $29.

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