The Exonerated Delivers Poignant, Emotional Stories

The Grosse Pointe Theatre is known for its professional-grade productions. Through the decades, thousands of theater-goers have enjoyed its productions, ranging from small-cast dramas to large-scale, uplifting musicals. So far this year, the theatre has produced two musicals – Godspell and Annie Get Your Gun, along with one straight play (meaning non-musical), Relatively Speaking.

The two remaining shows that will play at the ’s Fries Auditorium are the Dixie Swim Club (March) and the Scarlet Pimpernel (May) to close out the season. But nestled right in the middle of these productions is The Exonerated, an edgy play that focuses on the lives and tragedies of six death-row prisoners who were eventually exonerated.

The Exonerated opens on Friday at 8 p.m. at the on Lake Shore Road and continues with 8 p.m. performances on February 19, 25 and 26, along with two Sunday matinees (2 p.m.) on February 20 and 27. Tickets are $12 for all performances, with the exception of the February 18 show, which is $35 and includes a wine and hors d’oeuvres afterglow.

Just how -- and why -- did The Exonerated make its way to a GPT production?

"I am the director of the Pointe Players of Grosse Pointe South High School," said director of  The Exonerated, Lois Bendler. "During the course of reviewing plays for the high school, I ran across a play that was described online as interviews with refugees from Iraq who had fled to Jordan. I was very interested in that play, but I found out it was being produced in New York and was unavailable. But I also discovered that the playwrights had written another play in the same format called The Exonerated. I ordered a copy, and it blew me away.

"The power and pertinence of this play is overwhelming at times. It speaks of social justice. It's such a powerful  message that is both interesting and useful. It's harsh and hard to take. It's not your everyday piece of entertaining family fluff."

GPT staff puts every possible production through a thorough screening process. The smaller Purdon Theatre -- also known as a black box theater -- was the perfect venue for this alternative play.

"People who attend this play will be moved and enlightened," Bendler said. "You have to be aware that it is street language, since it is the actual words of the people themselves. Be prepared to see something like you've never seen before."

The experience is equally enlightening for the actors. Alan Canning, of Bloomfield Township, portrays Kerry Max Cook, who was on death row for 22 years before DNA evidence exonerated him. This role is one Canning relishes.

"The darker it is, the more you have to reach in and explore those deep feelings," said Canning. "Imagine being incarcerated for 22 years for something you didn't do? One time he was 11 days away from being executed. This play explores the human capacity of compassion and loss."

Sharron Nelson of Grosse Pointe Park, plays Sunny Jacobs, a woman wrongly convicted along with her husband for killing two police officers. Although Sunny was exonerated, her husband was put to death before new evidence cleared him of all wrongdoing.

"As human beings  we often make hasty judgements based on the color of someone's skin, how they dress, how much money they make, their lack of judgement at times in their life . . . but should we take their lives for a crime they didn't commit?" asked Nelson, when asked her motivation to audition for The Exonerated. "It's both sad and inspiring to watch how these wrongly accused prisoners deal with the false accusations and years of imprisonment. Sunny lost her parents while she was in prison, her children grew up without a family and her husband died. And, yet she still has a zest for life that is just amazing."

To purchase a ticket for The Exonerated, please contact the theatre at 313-881-4004 or go to its website to use Seat Yourself.