The Exonerated

The Exonerated is a 2000 play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen that debuted Off-Broadway in October 2000 at 45 Bleecker Theater and ran for over 600 performances. It won numerous awards including the Lucille Lortel Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, the Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience, and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play. It was adapted into a 2005 film by the same name. Plot The work combines first-person narrative with legal records to tell the stories of six wrongfully convicted inmates: Delbert Tibbs, Kerry Max Cook, Gary Gauger, David Keaton, Robert Earl Hayes and Sunny Jacobs, and their paths to freedom. The production is performed as an anthology by 10 actors seated behind music stands. Their accounts of the freed convicts emphasize their lives after being sentenced to death, including much of the legal proceedings that gained their exoneration. Cast The original cast was as follows: Delbert Tibbs – Charles Brown Robert Earl Hayes – David Brown, Jr. Sunny Jacobs – Jill Clayburgh Kerry Max Cook – Richard Dreyfuss Sue Gauger/Sandra – Sara Gilbert Male Ensemble – Bruce Kronenberg, Philip Levy David Keaton – Curtis McClarin Gary Gauger – Jay O. Sanders Georgia Hayes, et al. – April Yvette Thompson