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| Photo By Daniel Sturm |
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Playing the five prisoners in Lucasville are (L-R),
Christopher Fidram, Lessley Harmon, Sam Perry, Clyde
Holmes and Kunta Kenyatta.
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Since 2004, Ohio has been the state with the second highest number of executions, following Texas. Aiming to lift the veil between the condemned and the outside world, an Ohio civil rights lawyer and a California theater director have joined forces to bring two gripping plays about the death penalty to Cincinnati.
Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising debuts this weekend at First Unitarian Church in Avondale. The play will tour with the nationally acclaimed one-man drama, Clarence Darrow: The Search for Justice. The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio is co-sponsoring the double feature.
(For more on the ACLU's ongoing involvement with prison issues, particularly the death penalty, see "Deadly Laws," citybeat.com.)
Lucasville is based on Staughton Lynd's definitive history of the prison rebellion. In April 1993, prisoners took over a cellblock in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility. During the riot, nine prisoners and one correctional officer were killed.
The play portrays the trial for the murder of Correctional Officer Vallandingham, focusing on the predicament of the five prisoners accused. George Skatzes, Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb, James Were and Keith Lamar are now on Death Row and pursuing appeals.
Their convictions were based on the snitch testimony from other prisoners involved in the riot, without any physical or DNA evidence. Were the right men convicted? The play challenges the audience to decide.
Called a "Saint of the American Left" by Democracy Now's Amy Goodman, the civil rights attorney and historian Lynd has made it his fight to regulate Ohio's prisons and abolish the death penalty. Recognizing the importance of Lynd's work, Gary L. Anderson, who manages American Legends Theatre in Redding, Calif., decided to join forces with the attorney. He had artistically dealt with the death penalty in the nationally touring Clarence Darrow: The Search for Justice.
CityBeat: There were three big prison rebellions between 1970 and 1995 where prisoners killed one another: Attica in 1971, Santa Fe in 1980 and then finally Lucasville. What separates Lucasville?
Gary Anderson: For one thing, I don't think anyone has ever written a play that's toured nationally, the way this one will, about either Attica or Santa Fe. But what separates Lucasville from the other two rebellions is that these five men were in prison for very good reasons to begin with. This is not like an Innocence Project, where someone is innocent from the very beginning or mentally ill and the police decide to frame them. These folks were already in jail -- and four of them for good reason. That's why the Innocence Project or similar projects around America won't touch these men. Even though they are innocent of the crimes that bumped them up from being just "bad" up to Death Row, no one is helping them.
CB: What about the charge that the state attained death sentences for four men convicted of the murder of Correctional Officer Vallandingham almost entirely on the basis of inmate informant testimonies?
Anderson: Yes, there was a snitch academy set up, and we intend to expose that scandal here in the state by talking about it in the play, by mocking it, by giving excerpts of how these men were pressured to give testimony against these so-called leaders of the rebellion. And in actuality, of course, these five men were just in the circumstances of doing the best they could to stop the killing and to get their negotiated ends out there. But the snitches were coached. They were taken away for a period of months, so each would corroborate each other.
CB: Did you actually meet with the real life Lucasville Five?
Anderson: I met with Jason Robb. He's a captain in the Aryan brotherhood. And I met with Siddique Abdullah Hasan, also known as Carlos Sanders. He was an imam and leader of the Muslims during the prison rebellion. I'm meeting with Keith LaMar. And then I met with George Skatzes. He was transferred out of the supermax and is in Mansfield. He developed a great depression from being in the supermax cell. It's only the size of a compact car. During our presentation, we form living walls with 16 actors that represent the height, width and depth of an actual supermax cell. Then we put one of the men in it, George Skatzes, to talk about what living in a cell this size is like. The audience has to see it.
CB: Lucasville and Clarence Darrow: The Search for Justice are presented as a double feature. Four hours of deadly serious subject matter -- couldn't this be too much for an audience to bear?
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| Photo By Daniel Sturm |
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Actor Sam Perry (center) of Hermitage, Pa., plays prisoner
spokesman George Skatzes in a play about the Lucasville
prison rebellion.
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Anderson::You should make no mistake: I love to laugh. The humor in
Lucasville comes from the tenseness of the situation. There are natural things that occur, for instance, in the discussion between the state and the inmate negotiators. After 15 or 20 hours of negotiation, people are tired. They let their sense of humor come into it. They let their compassion slip, and they laugh with each other. It's almost like breaking bread. If you can laugh together, you found some common ground. Humor is peppered throughout the play.
CB: What are your plans to take Lucasville on a national tour?
Anderson: I want people tripping over productions of Lucasville just like they would 7 Eleven, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Starbucks. Every time a community turns around, I want them saying, "What is this play? It's everywhere!" This is not just a regional play. I have three cities in Florida that want to do Lucasville, and I have some groups in Idaho that want this play. Oklahoma and California are interested, too. We're going to assault this nation with the way that these men have been framed. We're going to really call everyone's sense of justice into play. Now, do we tell the audience what to do at the end of this play? Absolutely not. Why should we? Theater is meant to inspire, intrigue and engage and get people to come to these things on their own. That's the best kind of truth -- the truth that comes from within. That's what urges you.
Clarence Darrow: The Search for Justice plays at 2 p.m. Saturday at First Unitarian Church in Avondale. Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising is at 7:30 p.m. the same day. For more information, call 513-521-2391.
