"Sister, I won't ask for forgiveness; my sins are all I have" --Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen’s words could be those of Matthew Poncelet, who reaches out to Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun whose religious order encourages deeds of self-testing. Poncelet, the rage-filled, remorseless murderer of two teenagers, gives Sister Helen the challenge of her life: to reconcile this repellant human being and his despicable crime with the Christian imperative of love. Out of their unlikely relationship emerges Prejean’s quietly eloquent spiritual journey through our system of capital punishment, taking us from the plight of the condemned to the rage of the bereaved and through the needs of a crime-ridden society to the questions of anyone’s right to kill.
THE PLAY Dead Man Walking playwright Tim Robbins directed the critically acclaimed movie and wrote its screenplay. Both the play and movie are based on Sister Helen Prejean’s best-selling book of the same name, where she records her journey as an advisor to a death row prisoner, taking us through her personal and spiritual evolution into both a death penalty opponent and victims’ advocate.
Sister Helen approached Robbins to write the play, explaining that it could be reproduced endlessly, and everyone involved in performing it, as well as the audience, would be brought into deeper reflection about the death penalty. Robbins agreed, and enlisted a selected number of schools and universities across the United States to perform the play, and give him feedback for an eventual Broadway run. However, reports of the amazing power of the play to stir discussion in the local communities of the 30 schools where it was performed, convinced Tim to make the play available to schools and non-profit theatre groups across America. Thus, the Dead Man Walking School Theater Project was born.
There is one caveat for companies like Pisces Moon: that the play not be produced for commercial gain, and that we align ourselves with a school or schools in which at least two academic departments, in addition to the drama department, provide courses related to the themes and issues of the play. Art and/or music departments are also encouraged to sponsor creative projects related to the play. Hence Cabrillo College’s sponsorship and Delta School’s involvement, where the themes and issues of the play will be introduced across the curricula. To find out more about Cabrillo's and Delta's involvement, please go to our"School Collaboration" page.
THE DIRECTOR Susan Myer Silton co-founded Pisces Moon Productions in 1998. She recently directed the acclaimed and popular The Exonerated for Pisces Moon. Susan has co-directed Durang, Durang and Durang, Durang: The Second Coming and directed The Food Chain, The Altruists, The Laramie Project, Five Flights, Never the Sinner, Swimming in the Shallows, Psycho Beach Party, Dangerous Liaisons and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot for Pisces Moon. She directed Sex and Imagining and Man Walking Dog as part of Actors’ Theatre’s First and Second Annual Playwrights Festivals and To the Crows With You and What You’re Missing in the 2001 and 2003 Eight Tens at 8 Festivals. Read reviews of past Pisces Moon plays, and of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.
OPEN AUDITION DATES & TIMES Sunday, October 14: 2 pm – 6 pm Monday, October 15: 6 pm – 10 pm Tuesday, October 16: 6 pm – 10 pm Click here for Audition Information
REHEARSALS One-on-One character rehearsals with the director will be scheduled in Nov 2007 Scene rehearsals will be scheduled in Dec. 2007 Scene and Act rehearsals will be scheduled Jan. 7 through Feb. 7, 2008
PERFORMANCES Feb. 8 through Feb. 24: Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 3 pm
