DMW Play – Director's Blog

On April 30th, Naropa University’s BFA students put on an incredible performance of Dead Man Walking. I had never seen the play before and was very moved by the actors. I felt that they did a great job, especially Rose Mohan and Dan Holmes who played Sister Helen and Matt Poncelet respectively. The pictures that are included are from the dress rehearsal the night before the performance which I also had the opportunity to attend.

The play did an excellent job bringing forward many conflicting viewpoints. The audience is encouraged to not only think about how Poncelet’s act effected his victim’s parents, but also his own mother. We learn about how she and her other children are harassed and ostracized from the community because of the murder that Matt committed. She tells Sister Helen that she is constantly trying to figure out what she did wrong; however, the audience is left to wonder whether she could have done anything to prevent her son’s horrible act.

Sister Helen tries her best to be a source of support for the victims’ families, which turns out to be extremely challenging. The victims’ parents are naturally reluctant to trust her but in the last scene, not too long after Matt Poncelet’s execution, she prays with Earl Delacroix, the father of one of the victims. As audience members, we are left to make up our own minds- did Matt’s execution in fact, give some sort of relief to Delacroix? Is his act of praying with Sister Helen a sign that he forgave Matt? What does it take to forgive someone who has killed a loved one?

As an audience member, I was also brought to a place where I could see Matt’s point of view- his fear of imminent death, his confusion and pain, but perhaps most of all, his regret for what he did. In the scene before his execution, he confesses his crime to Sister Helen and acknowledges the impact her guidance has had on him. He states, ” You know, I’ve never known real love…figures I’d have to go to my death to find love…thank you for loving me”.

This moment in the play personally made me reflect on how murderers are often called “monsters” or “subhuman”. What if these titles are, in fact, oversimplifications? What if people who commit horrible crimes are still capable of giving and receiving love? Can acts of violence be directly traced back to the fact that the perpetrator may have experienced a lack of love or community in his or her own life? What caused Matt Poncelet to do what he did? Is his act unforgivable?

The audience sees both Matt Poncelet’s gruesome crime as well as his humanity. As someone who has never had anyone close to me hurt before, I can only imagine the inner conflict that a family member of a victim might go through when trying to come to terms with this paradox.

When it comes to the death penalty there are certainly no easy answers. Dead Man Walking brings this to the audience’s attention by challenging common oversimplifications and grappling with the true complexities of the issue

Last week, I had the opportunity to interview Dan Holmes and Rose Mohan, two Performance majors at Naropa University who are currently rehearsing for Dead Man Walking which will premier on April 30th. Here’s what they had to say.

The characters of Sister Helen and Matt Poncelet seem like very difficult characters to play. What challenges have you run into playing them?

Rose: Well, I have had a really hard time stepping into her (Sister Helen) because it just feels like she’s constantly confronting people and really challenging them. So that’s been sort of challenging, to feel like I can step up and face people in that same way.

Dan: The whole play is pretty painful, there’s a lot of pain on the side of the families and just the story in general. For me, it’s been very emotional having to visualize all these things. With playing Matt, I like finding the lights points, but he’s a challenging character, I mean he’s shut off and all he thinks about is himself (laughs). But it’s fun playing a character who’s so different from me.

Has this project changed any of your previous beliefs on the death penalty?

Dan: I feel like I was pretty anti-death penalty before all this, but going to the Boulder County Jail and hearing all the victim’s family’s stories has made me think about how hard forgiveness might actually be. So I’ve definitely become more middle ground.

Rose: I feel similarly. Ultimately, I don’t feel like the death penalty is a good solution but I can totally understand why some people want it. But it seems like it’s personally just too painful to carry around this feeling of not being able to forgive someone. It’s like it eats away at you, I don’t think it really does much to them (the murderer), it just eats away at you. I think that alone would make me want to forgive.

What do you hope the outcome of the performance will be, both for yourselves and the audience?

Rose: That they’ll cry! (laughs) Actually, it’s hard to even imagine the audience because the rehearsals still feel so self-contained. But performance is a form of connection and I hope that as actors, we can give something to the audience as well as supporting each other on stage.

Dan: It’s definitely a topic piece and I hope that people will reflect some on their own views about the death penalty. I hope that people enjoy it and that they find something in it for themselves.

This month, Naropa University is participating in the DMW School Theatre Project. Joan Bruemmer, director of Naropa’s BFA Performance program, spoke with us about the rehearsal process for Dead Man Walking and how it has effected both her and the cast so far.

What has it been like working with the script so far?
“It has been interesting working with this script because it is written in a very open way so it leaves a lot of theatrical possibility. This is also the BFA program’s first scripted piece. Because the performing arts program at Naropa is focused on creating new work, all previous productions have been original works that the ensemble created together and were built around various themes chosen by the students themselves. This is the first time that the BFA students are taking on someone else’s words so the demands of this rehearsal process are different than past productions”.

What effects did going to the Boulder County Jail have on the cast? “The visit to the jail had a very profound effect on the cast. It helped to start the conversation about our work with this play- the actors now have a real life reference. Going in, many of the students had a very negative image of police and people in authority that perhaps has been influenced by the media or by parents. Going to the jail changed some people’s views about this because the visit really showed that all police aren’t just abusive individuals-some inmates have actually done things that are wrong. That being said, it was hard to walk through the jail. We were in the inmate’s habitat- it was like being in a zoo. As we walked through the jail it felt like we looking at other people as though they were animals. This was both difficult and dehumanizing”.

How have the rehearsals progressed so far? What has the creative process been like? “I had everyone watch the movie Dead Man Walking before the rehearsals and this actually turned out to be a bad idea! It is important to play with the sense of developing a character from a page as opposed to an image someone else has given us. Having them watch the movie beforehand created a lot more work because it prohibited imagination. Every actor is unique-instead of working with an image of how a character is portrayed in a movie I want students to think more along the lines of, “Who am I as a character?”

What are your hopes for the production? “To have an audience that reaches beyond the Naropa community and to hopefully gather people all over Boulder. After the performance is over there will be a facilitated discussion so I hope there will be a lively talk-back since theatre does have a place outside of entertainment. As for the actors, I’d like for this experience to help them appreciate theatre more. I want them to appreciate the challenges of it and to be inspired by it.”

Visit the Naropa University BFA blog and learn more about how the production is taking shape.

On March 31st, Naropa University was proud to host a town hall event with top death penalty expert and Colorado University Sociology Professor Michael Radelet. Radelet was joined by Stanley Garnett, Boulder’s district attorney and Howard Morton, of the Colorado-based organization Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons (FOHVAMP). A panel discussion with all three guests was facilitated by Bob Cillo, Dean of Students at Naropa.

Radelet, who has done extensive research on how the death penalty is implemented in the U.S., gave some very thought provoking information on just how unfair a system it is. The U.S. ranks among the top five countries worldwide that still employs the death penalty- the others are China (who executed about 1,700 people in 2008 although exact numbers are unkown), Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. Out of all the states within the U.S. that has executed people, Texas has by far carried out the most: the state of Texas executed 452 out of the total 1,200 executions that have taken place between 1972 and 2010. This is 37.7% of all executions!

The death penalty is also a system fueled by racism- Radelet stated that of the total 1,200 executions that have taken place since 1972, 78.9% of the people who were executed were convicted of killing whites. People of color are disproportionately represented within the death row population- they make up 55% of those who are currently awaiting their executions. According to the Death Penalty Information Center, a source Radelet cited, African American defendants have a 38% higher rate of being sentenced to death than people of other ethnicities. The racial disparities in capital punishment are obvious to anyone who does even a minimal amount of research.

What struck me the most from this panel discussion was how prevalent juvenile executions were right here in the U.S. The U.S was actually the leading country in the executions of juveniles. From 1990 to 2002, there were 33 juveniles who were executed…and 19 of them happened right here in America! The only other countries that have executed juveniles since 1990 have been the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iran, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Yemen (now banned in the latter two).

Another point that was highlighted by both Radelet and Garnett is that the price of the death penalty is far greater than life imprisonment without parole. Howard Morton spoke about his work with Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons and how the organization has been trying to push for an end to the death penalty. Morton spoke about how the exorbitant amount of money that is used on death penalty cases and executions could instead be put towards investigations for unsolved murders. He said that since 1970, the number of unsolved murders in Colorado has increased to about 1,500.

This was an incredible panel discussion that was so appropriate since Naropa University is participating in the DMW Project! Visit the Dead Man Walking Social Networking site to watch video clips of the town hall!

Click here to learn more about Families of Homicide Victims and Missing Persons (FOHVAMP).

A couple weeks ago I visited a jail for the first time ever with one of my classes and would like to share a few of my thoughts with you.

This semester at Naropa I am taking a class called Conflict Transformation Through Dialogue. In this class, we have looked at various conflict resolution strategies such as dialogue, restorative justice, and nonviolence. We have also studied how all these strategies can be put into practice in situations of extreme violence and conflict. In our study of restorative justice specifically, we have looked at incarceration and the retributive justice system- hence our field trip to the Boulder County Jail!

I had never been to a jail before so it was an eye-opening thing for me. Boulder County Jail is, all things considered, a very progressive jail that seems to offer many opportunities for inmates. The officer who led us around the jail, Dwight Hill, even spoke of a program called the Phoenix Program, which serves inmates who have decided that they want to make a change and pursue a new life path. The facility was a lot nicer than I expected, and overall, the impression that I got was positive. That being said, I was definitely glad to leave.

The thing that made me the most uncomfortable throughout the tour was having to walk by the housing units where the inmates’ cells were. In the tour, we would sometimes stand outside of the different cell units that housed participants in the Phoenix Program, as well as separate units for maximum, medium, and low-level offenders. Looking into the tinted windows from the hallway made me extremely uncomfortable- I found myself not wanting to and looking at the ceiling instead.

Because of how liberal and progressive Boulder’s jail is, there are often many visitors who come and participate in tours. I wondered what it must be like to be on the other side, as an inmate- to have spent a couple months in jail, serving time, and to sometimes see groups of “outsiders” walking through the hallways. Would I feel like an animal in a zoo, sitting in a cell unit with young college students peering in through the window, looking at me? I probably would. And yet, I also thought to myself as I peered into the units- what had the people I was staring at done to be here? Robbery? Rape? Petty drug offenses? I could only guess.

At one point, Dwight Hill actually let us into one of the cell blocks and we stood around among the inmates in the unit’s common area as he explained the layout of the unit. The inmates had been instructed not to speak to us and they stared at us, sometimes with what seemed like curiosity- and sometimes with what seemed like hostility. Again, I felt nervous to look around- after all, I am a college student who has never been to jail; it’s something that’s totally outside of my experience.

For this reason, I’m glad that I participated in the tour because even though it made me uncomfortable, I feel much more aware now of what is happening right here, in my college town, with regards to law enforcement. I wonder though- how many more jails in the country have implemented the progressive programs that Boulder has in it’s jail? How many other jails have facilities that are as nice?

Have you ever participated in a jail tour? What did you think when you visited? What made you uncomfortable? What made you curious to learn more? I would love to hear anyone’s thoughts :0)

A couple weeks ago I had the opportunity to hear Randy Steidl speak at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Randy served 17 years in prison for a murder that he didn’t commit- 12 years on death row and 5 years serving life without parole before finally being released in 2004. This was the first time I had ever heard an exonerated former inmate speak and it was a very sad, yet incredible thing for me to hear. I cannot imagine the hell he must have gone through not only having to live on death row with others who truly had committed heinous crimes, but also having to go through an incredibly long process in order to fight for his innocence.

Like Randy Steidl, 138 other people have been released from prison after serving very long sentences on death row for crimes they didn’t commit. Witness to Innocence, an organization that is composed of, by, and for former death row inmates, hosts speaking events across the country so that exonerated people can go out and inform the public about the injustice of the death penalty and the many mistakes that take place within America’s criminal justice system. Witness to Innocence has been fighting to abolish the death penalty since 2005. Randy belongs to this organization as well as other men who have served time on death row.

In his talk, Randy raised an important question- if 139 innocent people have been exonerated since the death penalty was reinstated in this country in the 1970’s, how many innocents weren’t so lucky? How many were actually executed?

I encourage anyone who has the time to visit Witness to Innocence online in order to learn more about Randy, his case and eventual release from prison, as well as the stories of other former inmates who went through what most Americans can only imagine.

Hello everyone, and welcome to my first-ever blog! My name is Rebecca and I am an intern with the DMW School Theater Project as well as a college student at Naropa University in Boulder, CO. This semester, Naropa is putting on the play and it’s my job to inform you of updates from the cast and crew. There are also a number of events going on this semester in Boulder that are related to the death penalty and it’s abolition. I will do my best to keep the blog updated about these various events as well.

I am a senior at Naropa and can’t believe that my undergraduate career is almost at an end. For those of you who have never heard of Naropa before, I’ll give a little info about the school and what makes it unique. First of all, it’s the only Buddhist-affiliated university in the country that I know of……second of all, most students at my school (myself included) are concerned with social justice issues. In the Peace Studies department, the overall goal is to help students learn how to create a world with less violence. However, all departments at Naropa share this vision and hope in their own way.

What better way to do this then to put on Dead Man Walking?! I hope that this play inspires students at Naropa and people in Boulder. I hope it can help them to think about the death penalty and what it really means for us Americans to continue to have it. I hope to inform you of how the project is going at my school and hopefully, in the process, I can get acquainted with the blogging universe once and for all!

:0D Rebecca

Check out the Naropa Peace Studies blog to learn more about the program and to read about how the DMW project is taking shape at the school: http://naropapax.wordpress.com

I recently had the honor of traveling down to Austin, TX for the Alternative Spring Break Against the Death Penalty. Instead of heading to the beaches of Cancun and Miami, these inspiring colleges students decided to travel to Austin, TX to take part in this exciting program. They learned how to lobby elected officials. They spoke to exonerated men. They listened to the stories of murder victims families. They are making a difference.

The speakers included:

–Shujaa Graham: exonerated in 1981 from California’s death row.

–Curtis McCarty: exonerated in 2007 after serving 21 years–19 on death row in Oklahoma.

–Perry Cobb: spend 8 years on death row in Illinois.

–Bill Pelke: president of Journey of Hope–From Violence to Healing. I had the pleasure of meeting Bill in Geneva last month at the World Congress Against the Death Penalty. It is difficult not to cry when listening to Bill share the tragic story of the 1985 murder of his grandmother Ruth Pelke by four teenage girls, and his eventual reconciliation with the leader of the group–Paula Cooper. Mrs. Cooper was sentenced to death in Indiana for the crime, but was taken off of death row and had her sentence commuted to 60 years, thanks to the tireless efforts of Bill and the international community.

This is just a sample of the speakers present at the event. Click here to read more about the Alternative Spring Break Against the Death Penalty.

To all the students present at the event–thank you for devoting your time and energy to this cause. You are an inspiration to me and so many others. To all the students interesting in joining us next year–stay tuned for more information.

If you live in the Boston area, be sure to watch me on “This is the Day” at 10:30am. This will be my first television interview, so wish me luck!

Please visit CatholicTV for more information on the interview.

Help us spread the word on the Dead Man Walking School Theatre Project! Do you know of a high school or college that may be interested in taking part in this transformational project? Let me know!

The sun was shining when I arrived in Napa, but soon it began to drizzle, then rain, then pour, so much so that when I walked back to my hotel after the play performance on February 4, my umbrella did little to protect me from the storm. But I could care less about my wet socks–I just walked out a fabulous performance of “Dead Man Walking” at Justin Siena High School. Congratulations to all the students and Matthew Miller–the superb director of the play.

I have to admit, when I arrived in Napa, I was expecting the entire city to be covered in grape vines, but to my surprise, there were houses, and stores and roads–and yes, the vineyards existed, just not outside my hotel room window, from where I would be able to extend a hand to pluck a grape from a vine or photograph fields of mustard (yes, it was mustard season, not grape growing time). An east coasters dream of Napa was quickly refreshed–but still to my delight. Napa is a beautiful area of our nation, and I very much enjoyed my brief time there.

Special thanks to Richard Wollack and Janis Gay for taking time out of their busy day to visit Justin Siena. Richard and Janis are both active members of Death Penalty Focus and shared their life and work with a group of students.

Read this review in the Napa Valley Register. I was happy to see the play covered by the local press, and I echo the sentiments of the journalist–the talent of the actors is impressive.

I encourage you all to check out the photographs posted on this site by our friends at Justin Siena.