Coyote on a Fence

Two convicted murders sit on Death Row.  One freely admits to the crime he was convicted of committing.  The other stands firm in his innocence.  Are they monsters or men who were a product of their circumstance?  That is the question underlying Pit & Balcony’s most recent production, Coyote on a Fence.

William Campbell plays John Brennan. Brennan was convicted of killing a drug dealer by beating him to death.  He maintains that he is innocent of a crime, that the dealer needed to be killed for the good of society.  An older man, educated, John edits the Death Row Advocate, a prison newspaper with a goal of humanizing the death row inmates by publishing the obituaries of those executed, most recently  the prisoner in the neighboring cell.  John’s undertaking has gotten him in trouble with the warden in the past and caused him to lose certain privileges like using a computer to complete his “work”.

Matt Kehoe plays Bobby Reyburn, a young white man, intellectually challenged, physically challenged from an altercation in a juvenile facility.  Reyburn freely admits to his crime of murder.  He set fire to an African American church, killing thirty-seven people, including fourteen children.  But Reyburn, a proud member of the Aryan Brotherhood, believes that he did the right thing, that the nation needs to be cleansed and returned to the white race.

Katie MacLean-Peters plays Corrections Officer Shawna DuChamps.  DuChamps has seen a lot in her career.  She sits in the local bar after the execution of Brennan’s “friend” and speaks to a reporter about what happens, what life is like as an officer inside the prison, and how she deals with it all.  DuChamps like to pretend that life inside the prison hasn’t changed her but as the evening wears on and she has more to drink you can see the toll that it takes, how she tries to be hard because she has to be but how it hurts her, scares her, to be surrounded by the violence these men have committed and to be a party to their deaths. She admits to escaping being a witness to the executions by standing in one particular spot in the viewing area where the window acts as a mirror so all she can see is herself. Shawna only has two more years of work and then she can retire with her full thirty years of service.  What will her life be like when she no longer has to be a part of prison life on a daily basis?

Ralph Mancini rounds out the cast as New York Times reporter, Sam Fried.  Sam is interested in writing about John Brennan and his work on the Death Row Advocate. He has several interviews with John.  He asks about his life before prison, and about the crime he committed.  John is willing to discuss the other prisoners and why they deserve to have an obituary written that shows them as a person and not just a criminal but he is unwilling to speak of his own crime other than to say that the victim was not a good person and society is better of without them.

Throughout the course of the play the audience gets to know each of these characters more fully.  They become real people, people with hopes and dreams and ambitions, people who have overcome challenges, people whose lives and life choices have been shaped by those challenges.  And one begins to ask, are death row inmates monsters simply by virtue of having been convicted of a crime, or are they people who need to be considered by more than one bad act?

Director Todd Thomas did an incredible job of casting and shaping the story of this play.  His choice of actors showed the depth of the characters, Brennan (Campbell) as a serious man who has seen a lot in his life and seeks to find the dignity in the humanity of the person.  Reyburn (Kehoe) as a young man who longs to be loved, who seeks connections and approval of those around him by using humor, like impersonations of animals, and asking for help with tasks.  Shawna (MacLean-Peters) acts hard, using hard language and occasionally her night stick, to maintain her level of control, but she is hurt by what she sees and longs for the day when she can walk away.  Fried (Mancini) is young, ambitious and curious about a world that he has no experience.

The set for this production is spot on.  Each man in a cell, dimly lit, small.  There are bars on the cell and then an opening where the audience can see the actors but still have a picture of them in a prison cell.  The bar where Shawna goes is realistic with its high top table and Tiffany-type lamp over it. The visitors area is a real life replica with plexi glass between the visitor and the prisoner.

Tom Carriere was the Costume Designer.  Brennan and Reyburn could easily pass for prisoners in their gray two piece scrubs.  DuChamps perfectly represented a Corrections Officer with her uniform and badge.  In each scene, Fried represents himself as one would expect a Times reporter to do so, a suit at the first meeting, more casual as the meetings continue and become less formal.

Dale Peters lighting design and Caleb Hopper sound design help to create a realistic picture of life in prison.  The lighting is dim and there is a constant hum of noise in the background.  Hopper takes a cue from the dialogue to increase the reality.  When an execution is about to take place the noise gets louder from the protests, but after it has happened, there is an eerie silence that happens.

In total this production hits all the right notes.  From character development, to set, to lights and sound, the audience is transported to another place and given the opportunity to experience and question their own beliefs around crime and the death penalty.  Coyote on a Fence is showing at Pit & Balcony on April 4-6 and April 11-13.  Call the Box Office or go online for tickets.