"Exonerated's" death-row inmates come to life onstage

The agonies of Job are multiplied in "The Exonerated," a gripping, intermissionless, 90-minute play based on the testimonies of several people who were sent to death row and then later (sometimes many years later) proved innocent.

Racial prejudice, homophobia and wild assumptions play a part in a few cases. Some prisoners just happen to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, while others (far too many others) were the victims of sloppy police work, indifferent public defenders or lazy judges.

ReAct's revival of "The Exonerated" is unevenly performed — the villains are mostly played as goons — but once it starts to build momentum it won't be stopped. Geoffery Simmons brings a dynamic presence and crack timing to the role of Robert Earl Hayes, a railroaded African American. Patrick Allcorn convinces as an abused, suicidal 22-year veteran of death row, while Gordon Hendrickson conveys the anguish of being falsely accused of murdering his parents.

As Sunny Jacobs, a mother who is arrested for shooting a policeman, Deniece Bleha brings a refreshingly straightforward quality to all her scenes. She's never cloying, even though the character's persistent optimism is a little hard to take. When she does register despair and helplessness, responding to a judge who has just sentenced her to death ("How can you say anything to that?"), she eloquently anchors the whole play.

First presented in Los Angeles in 2002, "The Exonerated" had its local premiere at the Moore Theatre as part of a 2004 national tour starring Lynn Redgrave. A year later, it became a TV movie with Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover.

ReAct's version may lack the star power of earlier presentations, but director David Hsieh offers a different kind of staging. Instead of sitting on chairs and referring to scripts on music stands (as they did at the Moore), the actors have memorized their lines.

They're still presenting their stories by speaking directly to the audience, but Hsieh (with the help of his light operator, Tim Crist) shifts them around through pools of light that convey movement and depth. Sarandon called the piece "somewhere between a play and a reality show." In the best sense, it still is.

John Hartl: j

ohnhartl@yahoo.com