Execution of Justice
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Under Ms. Mann’s Costume Designer Jason Resler leadership, McCarter was honored with the 1994 Tony Award for Technical Director Greg Demetrakis Outstanding Regional Theater and accepted the 2013 Tony Award for Costume Shop Manager Aimee Cole best new play for Christopher Durang’s Vanya and Sonia and Masha Assistant Costume Shop Manager Jillian Westplate+ and Spike. Most recently at McCarter, Ms. Mann directed her Scenic Artist Jeffrey Barrick+ adaptation of Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra starring Nicole Ari Hair and Makeup Designer and Crew Sarah Vervynckt+ Parker and Esau Pritchett, David Auburn’s Proof, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance and the world premieres of The Convert by Danai Stage Manager Zachary Craft+ Gurira (also at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and CTG in Los Assistant Stage Manager Gretchen Cyr+ Angeles; six Ovation Awards, including Best Director of a Play and nominated for 13; also nominated for three Joseph Jefferson (Jeff) WARDROBE CREW Awards including Best Production); Phaedra Backwards by Marina Wardrobe Supervisor Zach Swartz Carr; Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why; and Edward Albee’s Me, Wardrobe Crew Joselyn Ellington Myself & I (also at Playwrights Horizons). Emily directed A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway in 2012 with Blair Underwood and Nicole PRODUCTION CREWS Ari Parker. Emily’s plays include Execution of Justice (Guggenheim COSTUME SHOP STAFF Emily Beck Brad Pontius* Fellowship, Helen Hayes and Joseph Jefferson Awards, Drama Desk Daniel Blevins* Zach Swartz and Outer Circle Award nominations); Still Life (six Obie Awards); Angela Flowers Sarah Vervynckt Greensboro (A Requiem); Meshugah; and Annulla, An Autobiography. Jordyn Nutting Jillian Westplate Ms. Mann wrote and directed Having Our Say, adapted from the book Sophia Zovich by Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations; NAACP and SCENE SHOP STAFF Tristan Conner* Ian LaFountain Joseph Jefferson Awards; Peabody and Christopher Awards for the Zach Craft Jacob Luneke screenplay). A collection of her plays, Testimonies: Four Plays, has Nich Sikorski been published by TCG. Her adaptations include: three Chekhov Shops also assisted by the students of THTR-T120 Acting 1, T225 Stagecraft, and plays (Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, and a free adaptation of The Theatre Production 1, 2, 3 (T341, T342, and T343) Seagull: A Seagull in the Hamptons) and The House of Bernarda Alba (recently staged in London). A winner of the Dramatists Guild Hull- *Denotes Theatre/Broadway Theatre League Scholarship Recipient Warriner Award and the Edward Albee Last Frontier Directing Award, Emily is a member of the Dramatists Guild and serves on its council. +IU South Bend Theatre and Dance Company is very proud of our student designers. She is the recipient of an honorary doctorate of arts from Princeton University and was named the 2011 Person of the Year from the SPECIAL THANKS National Theatre Conference. Upcoming projects include Ms. Mann’s Joel Langston adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s Scenes from a Marriage, which will premiere in the fall of 2014 for New York Theatre Workshop under Ivo van Hove’s direction. The Impact of Execution of Justice 1972 February 21 President Richard M. Nixon makes a journey for Comprised of selected fragments of trial transcripts, combined peace to China. with interviews of members of the community on both sides of the emerging culture war, the play explores how a clear-cut example of 1973 January 22 The United States Supreme Court rules in Roe first-degree murder somehow was interpreted by an all-white, law- vs. Wade that a woman cannot be prevented and-order jury as voluntary manslaughter. The relatively short jail from having an abortion during the first six term for White so poorly fitted the crime that devastating and divisive months of pregnancy. riots followed. Execution of Justice comes from a long history of plays which January 27 The Paris Peace Accords, a four part Vietnam evolved from journalistic techniques, but it also certainly furthered the peace pact signed; the last U.S. military would tradition informing more recent enterprises such as the Tectonic leave the war zone on March 29. Theater Project, and undertakings which include plays such as The Laramie Project, and Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar 1974 August 9 President Nixon resigns the office of the Wilde. Like them, Execution of Justice still strongly resonates because presidency to avoid the impeachment process things have not changed nearly enough. But, while change can be and admit his role in the Watergate break-in; slow, just-change is usually inexorable. They just require our Vice President Gerald R. Ford becomes the 38th attentions and efforts. President of the United States of America. Please do not miss that the play is theatrical. Emily Mann has made many choices in composing the piece from real fragments which 1975 April 29-30 North Vietnamese forces complete the takeover she has carefully arranged. of South Vietnam; forced evacuation of Saigon of U.S. civilians. A selective Timeline of U.S. History, 1969-79 1969 June 28 The Stonewall riots, a series of spontaneous, 1976 July 4 The United States Bicentennial. violent demonstrations of the gay community in response to a violent police raid at the Stonewall November 2 James Earl “Jimmy” Carter narrowly elected as Inn in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of the 39th President of the United States of New York City. It is widely considered the America. single most important event leading to the LGBT liberation movement. November 26 Microsoft becomes a registered trademark. 1970 May 4 Four students at Kent State University in Ohio 1977 May 25 Star Wars opens in select theatres, but goes on are killed and nine wounded by National to become the highest grossing film at that time. Guardsmen during a protest against the Vietnam War. November 8 Harvey Bernard Milk, in his third try, becomes the first openly gay candidate to win elected 1971 June 30 United States Supreme Court upholds the office in the United States of America. He publication by the New York Times and the becomes the District 5 representative to the San Washington Post of the so-called Pentagon Francisco Board of Supervisors. Papers about the Vietnam War. 1978 March 3 The New York Times prints an article on the freeways on the southern boundary of the city and dominated by white book, The Cloning of Man Catholics often resentful about the newly arrived Asian, Latino, and gay immigrants. November 27 Daniel James White murders George Moscone, Dan White was quickly identified as the frontrunner in the 11th, mayor of San Francisco, and Harvey Milk. The on the strength of his precinct operation, his large Irish family, as well question is, and remains: were White’s acts a as his ties to the police and fire-departments. Many of his rivals murder, an assassination, or as the jury found, complained that White’s political troops were bullies that intimidated voluntary manslaughter? them at campaign events. When Harvey and Dan both won, the TV stations took to Whatever the ultimate answer, and no matter interviewing the two together, the gay Jew, and the straight-arrow White’s motivations, as hotly debated as they Catholic choir boy, as the symbols of the diversity achieved by the are, his violent and deadly actions significantly outcomes of the district elections. The pair gained a little rapport; Dan set back San Francisco’s movement toward assured Harvey that his campaign reference to “social deviates” was more liberal issues and determinations, and the about junkies, not gays. climate of inclusion and justice for some time. Quickly after being sworn in, Milk and White undertook However, his actions did not silence the divergent journeys at City Hall, which led to increasing conflicts. demands for them. Milk dove into the action and business of City Hall with great success, while White struggled. Attracted by the spotlight and well-versed in San Francisco, George Moscone, Harvey Milk, and Dan White opera and theater, Milk had a knack for making news and a sharp eye In the late 1970’s, San Francisco had grown increasingly for image.