The Exonerated
Phoenix Theatre
Directed by Bryan Fonseca
Through Oct. 10

Michael H. Smith is Delbert and Deborah Sargent is Sunny in the Phoenix Theatre production of ‘The Exonerated.’

Two prominent theaters in Indy (as well as many of the smaller theaters) saw openings this weekend, and the shows, both of the highest quality, were so different as to not be comparable.

The Indiana Repertory Theatre launched their season with the play Pride and Prejudice, adapted from the Jane Austen novel. The period piece is visually lovely, thanks to scenic design by Robert M. Koharchik and costuming by Gail Brassard. And whether taken as just an amusing love story or commentary on feminist issues in the early 1800s, the plot and scripting make for an enjoyable tale.

Central are the couple Carey Cannon as Lizzy and her nemesis-turned-sweetheart Jason Bradley as Mr. Darcy. Cannon is bright and quick, and takes her part to heart. Even in directly addressing the audience her believability is complete, and her performance sprightly. Bradley, however, spends too much of the show with a perpetual look of dazed confusion on his face, and blank eyes.

Priscilla Lindsay and Mark Goetzinger as Lizzy’s parents are a treat. Lindsay is the panicked mother of five girls who need husbands, and frets over her fear of losing the house to her husband’s closest male heir. Her performance swiftly and cleanly oscillates from dread and doom to wacky ecstasy. Goetzinger as her long-suffering husband always has a wink in his comments, and shows love in a less pestering way as the charming patriarch who can enjoy a good joke.

Supporting cast members were just as adept as the leads, bringing sweetness and comedy into their parts.

Keen direction by Peter Amster kept the long show (be prepared for two intermissions) from feeling that way and brought out the script’s nuances.

For something completely different, the Phoenix Theatre opened The Exonerated, a play based on true-life stories of innocent people placed on Death Row, which recently came off Off Broadway.

The cast is seated close to the front of the stage in wooden chairs, symbolic of the electric chair that they at one time were all facing. The effect is intense.

Nine people face you, some alone, others with spouses by their sides. They tell you their stories, how they ended up convicted of crimes they didn’t commit — being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or being the wrong color. The entire work — intermissionless, a good choice — is a deeply emotional experience. The horrors that these innocent people were made to endure, the decades of life that they were robbed of, would have to be enough to make even the most ardent of death penalty proponents question themselves.

Each of the actors — Jamison Kay Garrison, Tony McDonald, Mathew Officer, Beverly Roche, Deborah Sargent, Michael Shelton, Tiffany L. Showmaker, Langston Martin Smith, Michael H. Smith, as well as Rich Komenich in the background in multiple roles — wrung humanity from themselves and placed it dripping into the laps of the audience members. Denying these stories is not an option.

Director Bryan Fonseca has crafted a production that dares you to confront philosophy and reality.

For info on Pride and Prejudice at the IRT: 635-5252, www.indianarep.com. For info on the Phoenix’s The Exonerated: 635-PLAY, www.phoenixtheatre.org.