Play Review: Trial of the Catonsville Nine

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine. Photo credit Kim Zsebe, courtesy The Actor's Gang.

Many of us would like to count ourselves as 'politically active'. We are an intelligent country, made up of many of the same demographics as seen in other Western countries. We have the students, the high prices, the motivations, and the anger. We just don't have the riots. Excluding recent racial developments in Oakland and the occasional big sports victory, our 'political activism' may well better be titled 'political pacification'. This isn't Spain, or France, and it sure as hell isn't Greece, where protests and work stoppages are routine. How sad is it that, as a people, we'll flip cop cars for Super Bowls but not suicide missions in Iraq. Not for deception in D.C. President Obama has brought a lot of his hope to America, but it took eight years, and there are many broken social stairs to reclimb before we reach the heights we once enjoyed. But this is not a promotion of rioting. Far from it.

There have been times when things were different; when the attitudes of the people raged against the climate of the times like competing clouds of thought, until orations of thunder and bolts of defiance struck the land. The Battle in Seattle is one. The Los Angeles riots, while terrible and costly, are another. And then there is May 17th, 1968, when a perfect storm of moral certainty, governmental injustice, and public sentiment converged on Catonsville, Maryland.

But this is not a history lesson, either. Much can be found regarding the actions of that day, when nine Catholic individuals - including two priests - peacefully removed 378 draft files from a local draft board, took them to the parking lot, and burned them with homemade napalm, to ensure that at least a handful of young men would be freed from the certain obligations of death that was the Selective Service for Vietnam. Instead, this is a critical look at the play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine - performed at the Actors' Gang Theatre in Culver City -, which takes a moving, free verse look at the courtroom proceedings that followed the incident of civil disobedience. As a play, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine is very engrossing, but as a blueprint for our failures it is deeply impactful.

With the Actors' Gang Theatre, helmed by Tim Robbins, you know that you will be getting a quality and professional production, and The Trial of the Catonsville Nine is no exception. Based on the vision of director Jon Kellam, the stage is mostly bare, save for a few handmade pews, a large American flag backdrop, and less than a dozen actors portraying different roles within the fabric of the story. None of them are solely the defendants, and yet all of them are; they also play the prosecution, the defending trial lawyer. They are the jury, the narrators, the witnesses. And perhaps that is what helps make this production stand out, the sense of true ensemble that comes from a group commitment to honesty, no matter the part. Performers and props move about the stage fluidly, only pausing when someone has the floor, giving way to their fellow actors to move and expound as needed. The marvelous nature of this movement is not lost on the audience, especially considering the mental juggling required to balance facts, face, and feelings for ninety minutes. As the tagline ('Is there a difference between breaking the law and committing a crime?') hints, this is a thinking man's play.

It may be this idea and this dedication to ensemble, that can lead the play astray for the average viewer. As The Trial of the Catonsville Nine flows on, the ideals and the morals don't stop pouring out, as each of the nine come forward to distill the essence of their actions into a simple answer of the question 'why'. And as for ensemble, the adage of being only as strong as the weakest link works best. Cameron Dye is absolutely astounding in his primary role as David Darst, channeling a tired moral strength that is absolutely unflappable. With the wonderfully noted exception of Andrew E. Wheeler, almost all of the other actors fall into a small state of stage flux, floating from average to captivating, but rarely staying in one place for too long. Fortunately, the direction and the dialogue are so powerful, some of the more mediocre moments are quickly swept under the rug.

As a whole, The Trial of the Catonsville Nine is a largely successful play that is sure to only get better as their current run at the Ivy Substation in downtown Culver City continues. It is heart-warming to see that the Actors' Gang can still deliver, no matter how infrequent (or how often) one might visit. What is heartbreaking, then, is the instability of the surrounding society. We can put on a production like this, we can fill the National Mall with smiles and tears, but more often than not we can't seem to do what is absolutely right (and often needed) for this country.

The Trial of the Catonsville Nine runs through March 21st, with productions Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 2pm. Ticket prices vary. Visit The Actors' Gang for more information. The play features Andrew E. Wheeler, Cameron Dye, Scott Harris, Chris Schultz, Corey G. Lovett, Patti Tippo, George Ketsios, Paige Lindsey White, Ethan Kogan, and Adele Robbins.