***full disclosure: I am not a professional reviewer…so just giving my uneducated opinions here, peoples! I was provided one ticket to the show in exchange for my honest opinion about it on the blog.***
I had the pleasure of attending Opening Night of The Trial of the Catonsville Nine last week, a mere 350 yards away from where the historic event took place 50 years earlier, to the day. I am a history lover, and also a lover of my adopted hometown of Baltimore and Catonsville, so this was enjoyable for me on both fronts. Civil disobedience is near and dear to my heart, and this hometown production from the Salem Players taught its audience a lot about the Nine’s motivations for the action that inspired similar acts of disobedience against the war in Vietnam all over the country.
On May 17, 1968, nine Catholic peace activists entered the Draft Board in Catonsville, MD, stole nearly 400 selective service records, and brought them out into the parking lot. They doused the records with napalm, then burned them. They neither ran nor hid…rather waited for the police to come to arrest them. Led by Father Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit Priest and anti-war activist, the nine were found guilty of destruction of government property. That’s where the play comes in.
The play recounts the trial, but from the beginning, there is never any question about whether they’ll be convicted. The Catonsville Nine admit up front to the destruction of the property – the act of which they are accused. What makes this a different sort of trial is not the suspense of the verdict, but the motivations and the backgrounds of the individuals in the group. Their admission to the act allowed them to use their time on the stand to incriminate the government for its own crimes in Vietnam. To hammer home the recurring and ever-relevant questions that arise when faced with awful choices:
- When may a person break the law to save a life?
- How does one distinguish between committing a crime and violating the law? Are they always the same thing?
Daniel Berrigan and George Mische were larger than life figures in the play. Played by John Dingnam and Damien Gibbons, respectively, I felt theirs were the most powerful personalities on the stage. Chris Carothers, as Philip Berrigan, had a quiet dignity and sadness about him that drew me to his moments on stage as well. I did love Tim Evans as the Judge, and actually, felt his impatience and frustration at his inability to reconcile his morality with the rules of the law. Another nice touch: women cast in the roles of the attorneys. In real life, William Kunstler represented the Nine, and Stephen Sachs was the prosecutor. Director Tim Van Sant cast Carol Evans as the defense attorney, and Jane Nitsch in the role of prosecutor.
The play includes, thankfully, Daniel Berrigan’s full statement towards the end, which could just as easily be spoken with the passion and conviction to the corruption and cruelty of our government today as it was by him in 1968. It’s amazing how much things stay the same.
Our apologies, good friends, for the fracture of good order, the burning of paper instead of children. . . ~Daniel Berrigan
In the prosecution’s closing argument, the audience actually laughed out loud as the 1968-bound lawyer argues that government will get better – but not by breaking the law. How earnestly she looks out into the audience when she repeats, “Government WILL get BETTER.” Cynics or realists that we are, we just laugh.
This *is* a review, and I guess I’m supposed to include some negatives so that it’s taken seriously, so here goes ohmygod I hate saying anything negative about anything people work hard on I’m really sorry in advance this is why I am not a reviewer… I found the lighting a little confusing towards the end, during Father Berrigan’s final monologue…it was hard to tell if the show was over, or going through a transition, so that was a bit awkward. Also, be aware that it does run 90 minutes without an intermission. So there were times when the Judge would tell the witness to move it along, and I would silently agree with that sentiment, only because I don’t usually sit still for 90 minutes straight… but hey – it is community theater, and the play is written as it is written. Just save the drinking liters of water for after the show, if your bladder is anything like mine.
In the meantime, we can be proud of Catonsville’s history of rebellion against inhumane government policies, from the Catonsville Nine in 1968, to Catonsville Middle School, where a 6th-grade student took a knee to protest racial injustice in 2018. She was reprimanded by her teacher, and the ACLU has taken up her case, protecting her right to free speech. Perhaps she would enjoy seeing this show about the Catonsville Nine. If so, I’ll buy her two tickets.
****
You can catch The Trial of the Catonsville Nine on Memorial Day Weekend:
Fri., May 25, 7:30 p.m.
Sat., May 26, 7:30 p.m.
Sun., May 27, 2:00 p.m.
Salem Lutheran Church
905 Frederick Road
Catonsville, MD 21228
Tix are $15 gen admission, $12 seniors & students
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