The Exonerated, a play written by actors Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, will be presented as a play-reading at The Main Street Playhouse, on Friday, March 13 and Saturday, March 14 at 8 p.m. The play is based on true stories of people who were sentenced and placed on death row before their exoneration. The stories are told like vignettes, each person explaining the details of how they were in the wrong place at the wrong time and wrongfully convicted.
One of the cases covered is that of Sunny Jacobs and her boyfriend Jesse Tafero who were wrongfully convicted in the state of Florida for shooting an officer, a crime an acquaintance, Walter Rhodes, committed. Tafero and Jacobs were convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. Rhodes received three life sentences and was released early for good behavior. Tafero experienced a torturous botched electrocution on the electric chair after which Rhodes confessed Tafero and Jacobs were innocent.
Robert Coppel will be directing and producing the play reading. He has a cast of performers including teachers, actors and attorneys. All the proceeds from the event will go to The Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic which only handles cases where post conviction DNA testing of evidence can yield conclusive proof of innocence.
“Since I’m a public defender, I thought it would be a good thing to bring attention to the fact that people are exonerated,” said Coppel. “It’s good for our theater to be socially conscious. Theaters should be able to stimulate thought and educate, not just entertain.”
Coppel will also be introducing legal members of the community to lead a panel on the death penalty to make way for stimulating discussion. After the performance on Friday night, attorneys Benjamin Waxman and Louis Jepeway will be representing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and they will be joined by attorney Sarah A. Mourer, an associate professor for Clinical Legal Education at the University of Miami Law School and head of the University of Miami Law School Innocence Project and Death Penalty Clinic. Following Saturday’s performance attorney Edith Georgi, chief of the Capital Litigation Unit at the Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office will be leading the panel discussion.
Sponsors for the play reading include The Miami Chapter for The Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and The Greater Miami Chapter for the ACLU.
Tickets are $10 and are available for purchase online at www.mainstreetplayers.com or at the door at The Main Street Playhouse, 6766 Main Street. For more information visit the theater online or call 305-558-3737.