ABOUT THE SHOW
The trial of Harvey Milk’s murderer.
A true story.
Recounts to turbulent '70s when Harvey Milk became the first openly gay city official ever elected to office. This sensational study of the killing of San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, a gay activist, takes place during the trial and uses the actual words of participants in the controversial case. Focus is on why Dan White committed the crimes and why the jury chose to convict him of voluntary manslaughter, not murder.
CAST
Prosecution Team, Inspector Frank Falzon, Cop——Matt Allen
Gwenn Craig, Young Mother——Echelle Childers
The Court——Mark Cramer
Defense Team, Milk’s Friend——Jerry Evert
Prosecution Team, Cop——Scott Fowler
Defense Team——Jennifer Gilg
Mary Ann White, Rudy Nothenberg——Heather Hannaford
Carol Ruth Silver, Dr. Delman, Richard Pabich, Cop——Stacie Lamb
Prosecution Team, Milk’s Friend, Juror——Thomas Lowe
Dr. Levy, Denise Apcar, Court Clerk——Laura Maxwell
Dr. Solomon, Barbara Taylor, Cop——Melinda Mead
Dan White, Jury Foreman——Joshua J. Mullady
Dr. Jones, Joanna Lu, Carl Henry Carlson——Judy Radcliff
Dr. Blinder, Joseph Freitas, Cyr Copertini, Milk’s Friend——Barb Ross
Defense Team, Edward Erdelatz, Cop——Michal Simpson
William Melia, Coroner, Lee Dolson, Juror, Cop——Fred Slegers
Sister Boom Boom, Officer Byrne, Jim Denman, Sullivan——Robert Williams
PRODUCTION STAFF
Director——M. Michele Phillips
Producer——Michal Simpson
Stage Manager——Brian Callaghan
Production Assistant——Gina Wagner
Set Design and Construction——Adam Nathan
Costumes——Echelle Childers
Light Design——Audrey Fisher
Additional Light Design——Mike Runice
Properties Design——Rhonda Hall
Sound Design——Dan Baye and M. Michele Phillips
Sound Tech——Dan Baye
Sister Boom Boom Costume Design——Ron Osborn
Box Office——Liz Heim
Historian——David Willingham
Additional Costumes——The Cast
Additional Set Construction——McClain Smouse, Joe Basque, Brian Callaghan, Mike Runice
Gina Wagner, Echelle Childers, M. Michele Phillips, Tom Lowe, Denny Maddux, Michal Simpson
Screen Construction——Kevin Steward
Sign Language Interpreters——Gary Beck, Christine Lafinhan
Video Design, Poster-Program-Web Design, Light Tech——Mark Cramer
EXECUTION OF JUSTICE was presented on Broadway by Lester and Marjorie Osterman and Mortimer Caplin in
Association with Norton & Stark, Inc.
Professional Premiere at the Actors Theare of Louisville
Originally Commissioned by the Eureka Theatre Company, San Francisco
PREVIEWS
Published Thursday March 4, 2010
Director uses non-actors to get this play right
By Bob Fischbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
When you’re directing a play about a real-life trial that happened 30 years ago, you can get bogged down in legalese or lose the fire that burned under a cultural cauldron.
That’s the situation M. Michele Phillips found herself in while directing “Execution of Justice” for SNAP Productions. The show opens tonight at SNAP/Shelterbelt Theatre.
Phillips turned to a lawyer and a historian to help solve the problem.
“Execution of Justice” explores the trial of former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White, who was acquitted by reason of insanity in the 1978 shooting deaths of openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and of Mayor George Moscone. Playwright Emily Mann used actual transcripts as the basis for more than half her script.
“When the show came out in 1984, people were more aware of the major players,” Phillips said. Last year’s Oscar-nominated movie “Milk” revisited the subject, but Phillips wanted social and cultural context to help frame the central drama.
Enter Dave Willingham, husband of cast member Melinda Mead. Willingham is working on his master’s degree in history at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Phillips asked him to be the show’s historian. He did research through the Internet, periodicals, books and even the archives of San Francisco radio.
On Facebook, Willingham talked to two people portrayed in “Execution of Justice.” Gwen Craig, an African-American lesbian, worked with Milk on his campaigns and on the push for civil rights. Jack Fertig protested for gay equality and AIDS awareness dressed as a nun.
“Fertig was instrumental in helping us tap into community feeling about the verdict, how angry gays were,” Willingham said. Craig, still a passionate advocate for gays, also helped clarify issues that shaped community feelings surrounding the trial.
When it came to legal language, cast member Jennifer Gilg was happy to help. Gilg, an attorney with the federal public defender’s office in Omaha, plays a prosecutor in White’s trial.
“It was a perfect storm of circumstances, from jury selection to societal prejudices, that led to that verdict,” Gilg said. “As a public defender, I can admire good lawyering, but I try to remain an actor and not an attorney most of the time in rehearsal.”
REVIEWS
Published Friday March 5, 2010
'Justice' is moving and full of insight
By Bob Fischbach
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
A trial goes on trial in SNAP! Productions' lively take on "Execution of Justice." The play is playwright Emily Mann's examination of how the controversial verdict was reached in former San Francisco Supervisor Dan
White's trial.
White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, rather than first-degree murder, in the 1978 shooting deaths of openly gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone, polarizing San Francisco's populace.
Mann's script comes largely from court transcripts and interviews of people connected to the trial. The excerpts make a case for how and why justice may not have been served by the verdict. Milk's homosexuality, White's financial pressures and background as a police officer and family man, Moscone's connections to the Jim Jones cult tragedy in which hundreds died, and cultural shifts in San Francisco all play into the mix.
Director M. Michele Phillips has taken steps to enliven the talky transcripts tangled with legal language, and the results mostly succeed.
Most effective is a large projection screen that dominates the back wall of the set with still and moving pictures, sometimes silently accompanying what the actors are talking about and sometimes containing their own dialogue.
Whether it's actors filmed speaking lines, or vintage clips and still photos of Milk, Moscone and events in San Francisco, video work by Mark Cramer adds greatly to the emotional impact of the show while also enhancing it creatively.
A few balky video cues at a Wednesday preview may soon iron themselves out, but the many transitions between live speakers and recordings generally dovetailed well. Parades of witnesses, who testify from different areas of the spartan set's low platforms, will also likely get smoother as the show settles in.
Phillips divided the roles of prosecuting attorney and defense attorney each into three parts. While more actors break up long speeches and raise interest levels, they can also add to confusion in the early going as the audience shifts its focus rapidly among many people and images competing for attention.It takes a while to sort out who's who, since actors in the large cast of 17 appear in multiple roles with sometimes mysterious identities (costume changes and the program help). Women often play men, which also can take you out of the dramatic moment.
Actors' facial expressions, vocal tones and music playing quietly beneath some scenes put spin on some dialogue. The effect is a less-than-subtle nudge that says: Isn't that judge biased? Isn't that witness hostile? Isn't that psychiatrist a nut job? The material is often strong enough to speak on its own.
But some character turns are very funny. Stacie Lamb, Judy Radcliff, Fred Slegers and Melinda Mead earn laughs as expert witnesses.
On the dramatic side, Echelle Childers, as an activist and a concerned mom, and Barb Ross, as a mayoral aide and city prosecutor, are particularly effective. Standouts in larger roles: Jennifer Gilg as the lead defense attorney and Scott Fowler as head of the prosecution team.
While some dramatic devices may draw a split verdict, the show's overall impact is strong and clear. "Execution of Justice" offers an insightful and moving look at what can happen when cultural forces influence the legal system. It's a show well worth seeing and a cautionary tale worth pondering.
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