"Dead Man Walking" Hits Its Stride
NEIRAD enilno edition
Load printer friendly version Traditionally, Darien High School’s theatre group, Theatre 308, puts on two productions every year. In the fall there is a drama, and in the spring, a musical. For the fall of 2008, Theatre 308 put on "Dead Man Walking".
Most students, upon hearing that Theatre 308 was putting on "Dead Man Walking", had to think to themselves, “Now where have I heard that name before?” Chances are, that prior to our school’s production of the show, most people had never heard about or seen the 1993 book "Dead Man Walking" or it’s eponymous 1995 movie/2006 opera. I know that I hadn’t. After a quick Google or Wikipedia search, it can be agreed that this production serves up to par of previous Theatre 308 Fall Productions like "The Laramie Project".
For those of you who didn’t see the play and would like a quick summary, I’ll provide a brief outline of the plot of "Dead Man Walking". Although at this point you’re a few sentences in, you can disregard this paragraph if you know the plot. "Dead Man Walking" was originally a novel written by Sister Helen Prejean about her experiences serving as the spiritual advisor to convicts on death row. In particular, the story focuses on Prejean’s times with death row inmate Elmo Patrick Sonnier prior to his execution in 1984 (however, in the theatrical production, the name is changed to Matthew Poncelet). Throughout the play, we see Sister Helen Prejean meeting and talking with both Poncelet and the families of the victims as she determines her stance on capital punishment.
After seeing "Dead Man Walking", one of the first things that came to mind was how incredibly well put together the play was. As is often the case with student productions, there will be scene-changing errors or poor character delivery and other things of that nature. However when Theatre 308 put on "Dead Man Walking", the entire production was devoid of such amateur mistakes. Of course it’s impossible to get a high school production confused with a Broadway production of a play, it was not at all apparent by how the scenes transformed and how the actors delivered their lines.
As I’ve heard from some cast members, when a scene changed, the script might say, “Warden Hartman’s office appears.” Now, while this may be easy for a Broadway venue or a Hollywood studio to pull off, this must have been incredibly difficult for our stage crew’s to have achieved the level of excellence that they had. There were no awkward transitions and there weren’t any loud pieces of equipment being moved around. Theatre 308 Director Nancy Herman and her stage crew seemed to take the minimalist approach and this ultimately paid off in the end.
There were some truly dynamic performances within the play. Of course, everybody did an excellent job (especially bearing in mind that the Theatre 308 players are rehearsing and learning lines on top of normal school work), but to me, there were only two particularly dynamic performances.
Senior Charlie Nicholls blew the audiences away with his excellent performances as Matthew Poncelet (the Dead Man Walking). For such an essentially conflicting role, Nicholls really became the character and convinced us that he was truly a cold-blooded killer but could still demand compassion from the audience as a man with a life left to live. Perhaps the character was a snug fit for Mr. Nicholls, but whatever the case, his acting in this production is worthy of great accolades.
The other dynamic performance that really struck me as being particularly fantastic was that of senior Juan Sucre. "Dead Man Walking" is Mr. Sucre’s first production with Theatre 308, and I certainly hope that it won’t be his last. He did not play any particularly noteworthy characters (a prosecuting lawyer and a jail sergeant), but in these roles he dominated the stage. A particularly noteworthy moment, was when the defense attorney (played by Senior Russell Parnon) and the prosecutors (with Mr. Sucre at the helm), were acting a court scene in which Poncelet’s character might receive a pardon from his death penalty. To illustrate the differing opinions, the two lawyers speak simultaneously and in this, Mr. Sucre shined. His character was dynamic and booming; commanding and amazing. Like Mr. Nicholls, perhaps the character just fit particularly well, but then again, it does take more than just that to act exceptionally.
All in all, I’d have to say that "Dead Man Walking" was another hit for Theatre 308. The acting was superb, the stage mechanics were flawless, and the play itself was insightful and profound. I’m sure that the issue of capital punishment has reached at least a few English classrooms of the last few weeks, and I hope that the argument continues onward. I can only anxiously await Theatre 308’s spring production.