Why should I dare courtroom drama

In 2016, a woman named Crystal Mason in Tarrant County, Texas, filled out a preliminary ballot during her federally-overseen prison release – a shadowy period of so-called “temporary liberty” after a person had served time. No one had told Mason that her status after her release did not include her disenfranchisement, the polling officer saw nothing wrong with helping her, and the ballot was ultimately rejected, so no vote was actually cast. But the Texas Republicans had made wild claims of electoral fraud, and after some public embarrassment on the matter, prosecutors needed an example. Mason was arrested for casting an illegal ballot in 2018. Elsewhere in the county, a white judge who forged signatures to vote on a ballot was given probation; In Iowa, a white voter who deliberately tried to vote twice was fined. But this March, Mason, who is black, lost its appeal. In the middle of a pandemic and with no intervention from the governor, the mother of three returns to prison for five years.

Your example will no doubt frighten others who are unsure of their status. Defiantly, Mason has become an advocate for voting rights, and her name has become a rally, the banner of a petition with half a million signatures and donations as she tries to support her family. What can the theater offer her? Personal productions are discontinued; There is no time to write a drama about their struggles. However, the newly formed vérité company, which the Commissioner considers unique, is in a unique position to expand Mason’s reach. Tonight, the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater will begin streaming the Commissary’s Why should I dare: The Crystal Mason trial, a documentary performance taken entirely from the 45-minute transcript of Mason’s 2018 trial. It will be available until November 2nd. At this point, time is running out in many ways.

A few days ago, I spoke to one of the commissioner’s founders, actor Marin Ireland, and resident director Tyler Thomas. (Ireland and its other co-founders, Reggie D. White and Peter Mark Kendall, call themselves “the interns” so they don’t get caught up in the hierarchy, and she alternates between “me” and “us” when talking about the group who is now number 30.) At a time when online theater can seem self-doubtful or even defensive, the two were on fire with excitement. Finally there is work. It’s not just what they need – it needs them.

In January 2020, Ireland had already convened a casual affiliation of performers for fun. She didn’t work and wanted to hang out with her friends so she played readings. “It was basically the cast of Blue Ridge at the Atlantic Theater in my house, ”she says. “Then I got sick with COVID in March, and when I got better in mid-April, I reached out to the same people I had read with in my apartment and asked if [they] but wanted to do it on zoom. “They started a kind of virtual book club for artists, many of whom have never met in person. They read new pieces and chatted about them. And then George Floyd was killed.

It was a call to action. People suggested performable works for the “curriculum,” read thinkers like James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni, and sought wisdom. Ireland has partnered with the avant-garde Wooster Group, which uses in-ear speakers to feed text to actors so they can “channel” it rather than perform it. The tech felt right for the moment. “We want to have the experience of speaking the words,” says Ireland, “but we don’t want to feel like it’s about our own ego.”

Some of their “channeling” performances of great writing (by Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hamer, Audre Lorde, and others) can be streamed as a series through another downtown theater, the Vineyard Lessons in survival. The group had also taken an interest in Crystal Mason after reading their trial log on the recommendation of participating playwright Dan Aibel. For the cast of the commissioner, the unadorned words of the hearing, in which a three-judge panel agreed with a prosecutor who wanted to set an “example” for Mason, were eye-opening. Ireland finds it to be a terrible relief from the self-conscious theatrics of the system itself. The electoral importance of Tarrant County – a volatile area in a state of knife-edge – adds urgency to the story. “We see it like a story,” says Ireland. “The characters were so clear, the drama was so clear, the exploitation, the manipulation … it was all there and it was real. When you hear it it feels like every sane person is hearing this and going a different route. You couldn’t write a better piece. “

Using their literal method, the performers purposely followed in the footsteps of one of the last great off-shutdown-off Broadway game changers. Is that a room that staged the record of Reality Winner’s arrest and confession. Is that a room? had the electrical property of witnessing the truth rather than consuming a dramatic story. “This movement from“ watching ”to“ witnessing ”shifts the terms,” says Thomas, “but it also shifts the role. When I witness something, it automatically means that there is a responsible relationship there. “If you witness injustice and don’t speak out loud, you are complicit. They turned to Mason’s lawyer, and eventually Mason attended some of the virtual rehearsals himself. “It’s very emotional for everyone,” says Ireland. “The first time Crystal met the entire cast, the artists said, ‘We’re going to do this for you. we will do that to you. ‘She burst into tears. “Ireland is taking a break. “She really is such a strong light.”

“What could possibly be essential about an artist’s work at this point?” Asks Taylor. “It is the power to express something and it is the active speaking and calling of witnesses to the act.” Ireland adds, “We know we can easily distribute the trial, but will someone be watching a YouTube video that is 45 minutes long? Or will someone read 35 pages of a test log? I’m not sure. ”By turning it into a performance, especially when charismatic actor Crystal Dickinson plays Mason, you can emphasize and underline – and stand up. Says Tyler, “It shows that artists can be separated and still have something important to offer. Our field is collapsing in its traditional manifestations, but we actually have basic tools that can actually fit into a revolutionary moment. “The moment they both insist is now now now. Mason isn’t behind bars yet. Audiences can still write a letter to Governor Greg Abbott asking for mercy. “We’re talking about the online space that should be a real civil space,” says Ireland. She also notes that actors often speak of being of use. This is that chance, she says. “That touches the thing directly.”