EVERETT – It would seem the show will go on, after all.
The New Everett Theatre has cast all the parts – and then some – for its March production of “The Exonerated,” a powerful play about criminals who are wrongfully accused.
Last week, theater management was preparing to cancel the show because they hadn’t gotten enough black actors to audition.
After The Herald ran a front-page story about this dilemma, between 15 and 20 people showed up Saturday for the last audition call, said New Everett’s artistic director Victoria Walker
“It was amazing,” she said. “We were inundated with phone calls.”
The play’s director, Allen Fitzpatrick, said he planned to gather the cast Monday night for the first read-through.
“Many, many people responded to the article,” Fitzpatrick said. “Without that, we would have had to switch to another play by now.”
Fitzpatrick also said many who called were committed to the idea of the play.
The play called for four black actors: three men and one woman. “The Exonerated,” written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, was first produced in New York in 2002.
It’s based on the stories of six death-row inmates who were convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. The inmates spent years locked away before their cases were re-examined and, with new evidence, they were eventually set free.
“These people (who auditioned) were very emotionally attached to the play because it has something important to say,” Fitzpatrick said. “And I believe in the power of theater, not only to change people but to stimulate discussion on an issue.”
Fitzpatrick and Walker were adamant about maintaining the play’s integrity and not using white actors for the black roles. That stance also stimulated discussion, but not a very nice one.
Walker said she received calls and e-mails from people accusing New Everett Theatre of being bigoted and of practicing reverse discrimination.
“We choose to do that kind of theater that makes you think, and with that you get a repercussion of opinions,” Walker said, adding that the negative response caught her by surprise.
“It was hard for me to believe that people are still insane about black and white issues.”
Fitzpatrick said that ordinarily, he would be colorblind when casting a play. But not this play.
” ‘Death of a Salesman’ you can do with a white or a black cast or an Asian-American cast,” Fitzpatrick said. “In this situation, it’s very specific. These are actual people who are living, and to misrepresent their ethnicity … their predicament was derived from their ethnicity, and it would be a terrible disservice to them and the play.”
Fitzpatrick said that 50 percent of the people on death row are black, in a country where blacks make up 12 percent of the population.
“A role like George Washington Carver, I can’t cast a white man,” Fitzpatrick said. “That’s not nontraditional, that’s just crazy.”
Fitzpatrick, who has more than 30 years experience on Broadway, said the actors who auditioned Saturday had varying degrees of experience, which was OK with him.
“This theater is here in part to serve the community,” he said. “I’m giving an opportunity to people who want to gain stage experience.”
The downside is the theater lost nearly a week looking for black actors, so there will be some hustling in this production, Fitzpatrick said.
The director added two more roles to the production, a black one and a role for a white woman, to get as many people to participate as he could.
“I would have cast everyone,” Fitzpatrick said. “But eventually you run out of chairs.”
When to see it
Jessica Blank and Erik Jensens play The Exonerated opens at 8 p.m. March 9 at New Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave., Everett. The show runs weekends through March 25. Tickets are $17, $15 and $10. For more information, call 425-258-6766 or go to www.everetttheatre.org.
Arts writer Theresa Goffredo: 425-339-3424 or goffredo@heraldnet.com.
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