Photo Flash: Cedric H. Turner, Brooks Brantly and Brittany Green in CRT's THE EXONERATED

When attorney Karen Goodrow comes to UConn on Oct. 14 to see the Connecticut Repertory Theatre's production of The Exonerated, many of the play's stories of prisoners wrongly accused may sound familiar to her.

As director of the Connecticut Innocence Project, Goodrow routinely reviews the case files of Connecticut prison inmates who insist they are innocent. With the help of modern day science, Goodrow and her team of lawyers and investigators have proven that some of them are right.

Since the Project began applying modern DNA analysis to old criminal cases in 2005, three Connecticut men have been found innocent and freed from confinement. Goodrow's staff is currently reviewing more than a hundred other case files to see who may be next.

As part of the University's continued commitment to interdisciplinary cooperation, CRT, part of the Department of Dramatic Arts, and the UConn Law School are sponsoring a panel discussion regarding wrongful convictions following the The Exonerated's Oct. 14 performance in the Nafe Katter Theatre on the Storrs campus. Goodrow is one of the special guests.

The featured panelists include:

Karen Goodrow - Director of the Connecticut Innocence Project and a veteran criminal defense attorney for the Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services. She was formerly assigned to the Division's Capital Defense Unit and represented convicted serial killer Michael Ross in his final penalty-phase hearing in 2000. Goodrow has also represented several other criminal defendants accused of Capital crimes and facing imprisonment on death row.

Jeremy Paul - Dean of the UConn Law School and Thomas F. Gallivan Jr. Professor of Real PropertyLaw. Paul teaches Constitutional Law, Property, and Jurisprudence. In addition to his long-term career in teaching, Paul has served as a law clerk to Judge Irving R. Kaufman of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit; as Professor-in-Residence at the Appellate Staff of the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice; and as Assistant to the President of Travelers Group. Paul is a member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Bar Foundation and the Advisory Board of the Connecticut Law Tribune, and a former member of the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Civil Liberties Union.

Thomas Morawetz - UConn Criminal Law Professor and Tapping Reeve Professor of Law and Ethics. Morawetz's courses include Criminal Law, Contemporary Legal Theory (Legal Philosophy), Law and Literature, Jurisprudence, and Theory of Criminal Law.

Dale AJ Rose - Director of The Exonerated, interim artistic director of the CRT and director of performance studies in the University's Department of Theatre Arts. Rose has directed several other products for the CRT including Pericles, Arabian Nights and As You Like It. As Director of the Shakespeare Festival in Dallas, Rose directed, among others, Earle Hyman in King Lear and Morgan Freeman in Othello. As Artistic Director of the Plaza Theatre in Dallas, he worked with John Goodman, Mariel Hemingway and Zakes Mokae.

Dassia Posner, dramaturge for The Exonerated and professor of theatre history and dramatic literature. Her research has been supported by fellowships and grants from the Council on Library and Information Resources/Mellon Foundation, the Somerville and Cambridge Arts Councils, The Boston Cultural Council and the Puppeteers of America. She has taught at Tufts University, Boston College and served as an artist in residence at Dneperopetrovsk University, Ukraine.

Cast members.

The panel discussion will begin immediately following the 7:30 p.m. performance, which lasts 90 minutes without intermission.

"This play tells stories of wrongly convicted criminal defendants whose innocence was later established via DNA evidence," says Paul. "Every American should be deeply troubled to learn of any such convictions in a country deeply committed to justice and the rule of law. The law school is proud to participate in a general discussion of the issues raised by the performance."

Winner of the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience and the 2003 Outer Critics Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's The Exonerated brings to life the compelling stories of Delbert, Gary, Kerry, Robert, David and Sunny - six people who were very nearly executed for crimes they did not commit.

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.

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.

"The Exonerated is a powerful indictment of our criminal justice system," says the play's director, Dale Rose. "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."
To date, 242 people in the United States have been exonerated through advanced DNA testing, including 17 who served time on death row, according to the national office of The Innocence Project, which was founded in 1992 by attorneys Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University.

Those inmates served an average of 12 years in prison before exoneration and release. The first DNA exoneration took place in 1989. Exonerations have been won in 34 states; the average length of time served by exonerees is 12 years. The total number of years served is approximately 3,019.
A great many potential innocence cases don't involve potential DNA evidence, according to Goodrow. About 90% of the innocence cases the Connecticut Innocence Project and similar projects around the country review are non-DNA cases, she said. Goodrow said she finds her work both rewarding and inspiring.

"I am amazed at the grace and dignity demonstrated by our clients," says Goodrow. "In their darkest hours, and facing insurmountable odds, they somehow maintain hope in the very system which caused such grave injustices. Hope leads to action, and action sometimes leads to truth."

The CRT's presentation of The Exonerated runs Oct. 9-18. Ticket prices range from $11- $29. More information about tickets and performance times can be obtained by calling 860-486-4226 or by visiting www.crt.uconn.edu.

CRT is the professional producing arm of the University's Department of Dramatic Arts. CRT productions are directed, designed by, and cast with visiting professional artists, including Equity actors, faculty members, and the department's most advanced student artists. The synergy between professional and advanced student artists creates extraordinary theatre and a unique learning environment.

Photo Credit: Gerry Goldstein

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