Willy (Chad Kimball—last seen in an outstanding performance in “Memphis”) is on trial for ripping an inmate’s throat out with a spoon. Hundreds witnessed the crime, but it happened within hours of Willy’s release from three years in solitary confinement (no light, 30 minutes of exercise a year). Disorientation was only one of his problems.

Initially incarcerated because of petty theft, he tried to escape and that landed him in Alcatraz. Unfortunately, this story is repeated in one version after another year in and year out in the daily papers. In this production based (somewhat) on a true case, the drama remains relatively muted until the end of the second half, when the young, Harvard educated attorney finally jams into a verbal groove.

Although the story is compelling, director Parva’s pacing melts one scene into another instead of jutting ahead, building an indisputable head of steam.

In an understated performance, Kimball speaks softly, dazed by the years of incarceration and unable to connect with anything except baseball cards and the idea of women. Intent on saving him from the death penalty, Guy Burnet (Henry Davidson) puts Alcatraz on trial. A ballsy move for a first time court authorized Defender; he believes that saving Wally from the death penalty will equal success. But that is not the case.

In one of the most affecting scenes near the end of the second half, Wally cries out for a guilty plea because life back at Alcatraz is worse than death. A committed company of actors inhabits the tame production.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY -- Celia Ipiotis