“Still...Life, An Exploration of a Killing State, North Carolina,” an original play that explores the death penalty in North Carolina, will be presented March 27-29 and April 5-6 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The play, written by members of The Justice Theater Project, will be directed by Joseph Megel in UNC’s department of communication studies. Performances are March 27-29 and April 5 at 8 p.m. and April 6 at 2 p.m. in Swain Hall on the UNC campus. A complimentary post-show reception, with a discussion facilitated by Rene Alexander Craft from the department of communication studies, will follow the April 6 performance.
Tickets are $15 adults, $12 students/seniors; March 27 is “Pay What You Can Night.” Tickets may be purchased in advance through the Memorial Hall box office, (919) 843-3333, or at the door for all performances.
“Still…Life” is part of the year-long Carolina Performing Arts’ Criminal/Justice: The Death Penalty Examined project. The project is made possible in part by a grant from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ Creative Campus Innovations Grant Program, a component of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation of New York City.
“Still...Life” is based on interviews with North Carolinians who have been directly affected by both sides of the death penalty issue. Interviewees included Death Row inmates, their families, victims, chaplains, attorneys, a warden, prison guards and others. “Still…Life” was presented as a workshop production in 2006, and then was presented throughout the Triangle area to churches, colleges and communities, before its premiere in April 2007.
In 2003, the North Carolina Senate passed moratorium legislation that included a two-year halt of executions and a review of the state’s death penalty system to ensure, among other things, that no innocent person is sentenced to death in North Carolina. Recently, The North Carolina Medical Board has ruled that it is unethical for a physician to take part in a state-sanctioned execution. North Carolina is currently deciding how to proceed with executions without the presence of a physician. These recent developments surrounding the death penalty in North Carolina have raised the awareness of this emotional issue.
The cast features local professional actors, including David Henderson, Deb Royals, John Honeycutt, Annissa Clark, Kimberly Hardy and Joseph Calendar. Technical production and design is by Thomas Mauney and Rob Hamilton. Photographic images projected throughout the performance are provided by photojournalist Scott Langley, from his “Documentary Project on the Death Penalty.”
The Justice Theater Project is an advocacy, activist theater group. The group’s mission is to use the dramatic arts as a way to call to the fore of public attention the needs of the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed.
