University Players exhibit drama, politics in play

The Cal State Long Beach University Players take a step back from comedy and transform the studio theater into a live courtroom drama in San Francisco during the political and social movement of the 1970s.

"Execution of Justice" reproduces the trial which took place in November 1978 after former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White assassinated Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

As the stage is centred in the theater with red posts surrounding it, the audience plays the role of the jury listening to the cases presented by the passionate lawyers. Up-stage there is an enormous ceiling-high representation of the Golden Gate Bridge to make the audience feel not only that they are in a live courtroom, but have traveled to the city of San Francisco.

With three large screens playing videos and photos from the historic event, a sense of reality is brought to the play, and the audience remembers that this is not a work of fiction.

Today, San Francisco is known for its large gay community and progressive politics. However, during the time of this trial, the city was under great change with an old conservative community clashing with an increasing liberal population.

Throughout the play, there are community members, from both sides of the spectrum, sporadically exclaiming their opinion on the issues of injustice, gay rights, murder and politics. Although one would think there is a right or wrong aspect to this case, the audience is able to see both sides from the friends and community members perspectives, in addition to those from the attorneys.

Defense attorney Douglas Schmidt (Valerie Bentson) performs so passionately that she is able to convince the audience that maybe Dan White did have some kind of mental disorder, which can justify his actions. Of course the play brings it back to reality by reminding the audience that White snuck into a court house, deliberately shot two political officials and then confessed his illegal actions. So how is it possible that White was convicted of the lesser crime of voluntary manslaughter rather than murder?

The trial shows the injustice in the federal judicial system by reexamining a trial that wasn't meant to convict White of murder, but meant to ask why the murder occurred, and find some kind of justification for it.

As Dan White, William Nicol shows the nervousness and worry felt by White during the trial by continuously running his hands through his hair and dropping his head in despair.

Although the bench had no judge present, a imaginary voice leads the trial where he was obviously in favor of White rather than plaintiff.

David Anis embodies the frustration felt by prosecutor Thomas Norman, who could not understand how this trial went astray and favored a murderer. It is easy for the audience to side with him because, as he describes in the play, they thought this was going to be a simple first-degree murder case.

Adding information to the trial was TV reporter Joanna Lu (Eriko Azuma). Unfortunately, Azuma's enunciation is not as strong as the rest of the cast, which makes it difficult to follow what she is announcing.

Overall, this play exemplifies historical events and important political issues in a dramatic intense murder trial. Having knowledge of law practices and an interest in political history will make this play worth-wile, but one must have the willpower to withstand it for more than two hours, since it is a little longer than expected.

"Execution of Justice" will run for eight performances, closing on Saturday, November 12. Performances, held in the Studio Theater at CSULB, are Tuesday through Saturday at 8 p.m. with Saturday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $15 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students (with a valid ID). For tickets and information, visit www.csulb.edu/depts/theater.

Comments powered by Disqus