Theater for the New City to Debut New Show Based on True Wrongful Conviction

Back in 1992, Fernando Bermudez, a Washington Heights resident, was convicted of a homicide that occurred in Greenwich Village. Eyewitnesses recanted soon after, but he remained in prison.

Bermudez was exonerated in 2009, after serving nearly 18 years, going on to win the biggest settlement for an exoneree in the history of New York State.

A new play inspired by Bermudez's life, by a journalist who covered the case, will debut in February at Theater for the New City just blocks from the site of the crime.

Theater for the New City Executive Director Crystal Field and the Textile Company are presenting "Pedro Castillo is Innocent," by Claude Solnik, a playwright who reported on the case.

The production runs Feb. 4-6 and Feb. 11-13 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 7 and 14 at 3 p.m. at TNC, 155 First Ave. Tickets are $15 by clicking on that link or through Theater for the New City.

The play tells an emotional story about how an innocent man's incarceration affects him and his family based on his experience.

Danielle C.N. Zappa directs the production of the play in which John Torres plays Pedro Castillo, Christine Copley plays his wife Gwen and Samantha Masone plays their daughter Kaela.

Michael J.Shanahan plays a corrections officer; Michael H. Carlin plays fellow inmate Santos; Jennifer Alexander plays Angela, an attorney, and Stephanie Sottile plays Liberty.

Alex Vartanian is handling lights and sound for this production, which follows a successful staged reading at Studio Theatre Long Island.

"My survival story of enduring over 18 years in a six-by-nine-foot prison cell is a provocation for reform," said Bermudez, who advocates and speaks around the country about the power of persistence and the need for justice reform.

He also called his story "a cautionary tale against this happening to others as a public safety problem that allows true perpetrators to escape punishment while families are ripped apart."

Bermudez, whose situation prompted this play, was arrested after his photo was picked by witnesses.

He was not at the scene of the crime, did not know anyone there, had no history of violence and didn't own or use a gun. The witnesses soon recanted, but Bermudez remained in prison for nearly two decades.

Solnik covered the case as a journalist at New York City weeklies The Villager and Downtown Express and then worked to exonerate him.

Bermudez was exonerated in 2009 long after witnesses recanted as a judge declared him "innocent," not simply "not guilty."

More than 2 million people are in prison in the United States, by far the largest number of any nation. Even if the system functions well in most cases, that makes some wrongful convictions inevitable.

"If only 1 percent of the U.S. prison population have been wrongfully convicted, thousands of innocent people are in prison," said Mike Gaynor, a former NYPD homicide detective who obtained key evidence used to exonerate Bermudez.

While "Pedro Castillo is Innocent" doesn't go into detail regarding Bermudez's case, it looks at the Catch 22 that innocent people encounter, often given severe sentences because of their refusal to admit guilt and show remorse.

The play tells a story relevant anywhere in the nation, but the location of the production, so close to the site of the actual crime for which Bermudez was incarcerated, gives added immediacy.

"Fernando Bermudez had nothing to do with the homicide that occurred just off Union Square," Solnik said. "People are coming together a few blocks away from that to tell the story of how wrongful incarceration affects individuals and families."

The Textile Co. specializes in presenting plays inspired by true events, although the stories may be altered for the stage rather than simply designed to document events.

"At its heart, this is a human story," Solnik said of 'Pedro Castillo is Innocent.' "It's about family, friends and cases where the conviction itself can be a kind of crime."

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