9 Circles
by The Surround Project
Jun. 15 - Jun. 25, 2017
Thursdays-Sundays
The play is a fictional story based on the real military career and subsequent civilian trial of Steven Dale Green.
Green was the first American soldier charged and convicted under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act. Signed in 2000, that law gives the federal government jurisdiction to pursue criminal cases against U.S. citizens and soldiers for acts committed in foreign lands.
Green and three other soldiers went to the home of an Iraqi family in Mahmoudiya, near a traffic checkpoint in March 2006. At the home, Green shot and killed three members of the al-Janabi family before becoming the third soldier to rape 14-year-old Abeer Qassim al-Janabi before killing her. He was convicted and sentenced in 2009.
Three other soldiers - Jesse Spielman, Paul Cortez and James Barker - are serving lengthy sentences in the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., for their roles in the attack.
Green committed suicide in February, 2014.
Directed by Eva Laporte, produced by EZL - The Surround Project in partnership with The Classic Theatre of San Antonio
ADULTS ONLY.
SEATING IS GENERAL ADMISSION BY ORDER OF ARRIVAL.
NO LATE SEATING OR REENTRY AT ANY PERFORMANCE AT ANY TIME.
PLAY INCLUDES NUDITY, EXPLICIT LANGUAGE AND DESCRIPTIONS OF WAR VIOLENCE AND VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
CAST:
Reeves: Zach Lewis
Lieutenant, Pastor: Torence B. White
Army Attorney, Defense Lawyer: Andrew Thornton
Young Female Lawyer, Shrink, Prosecution: Makenzie Jene Hernandez
From Wikipedia:
9 Circles is a play by Bill Cain based on the military career and subsequent civilian trial of murderer Steven Dale Green.
Cain is a Jesuit priest. The play's title refers to Dante Alighieri's Inferno—in which Dante navigates a descent into the "nine circles of hell". In Cain's play, Green passes through his discharge from the Army and various judicial and administrative procedures, roughly paralleling the nine circles of Dante's Inferno. Cain structured the play so other cast members would return to play multiple characters, at each different circle.
The play won praise for being nuanced, and not taking the easy path of demonizing the protagonist. However, Chris Jones, reviewing a Chicago production of the play, reported that audience members concluded the play meant to imply that Green, who was originally from Midland, Texas, which had been United States President George W. Bush's primary home, had the assistance of the President himself in clearing his entry into the Army in spite of his criminal record.
9 Circles
by Bill McCain
The Surround Project
June 15 - June 25, 2017
Thursdays through Sundays, June 15-25, 2017.
Tickets $20, available on-line via Vendini.
