EARLY DRAFT: Unrehearsed table readings, including one with Maryann Plunkett, Antonio Minino, Bill Kozy, Patricia Lynn and other talented generous actors. Revised after each reading and again in a workshop led by playwright Rogelio Martinez at Primary Stages ESPA - and during two years of ProSeries and MSC courses designed by dramaturg Hal Croasman.
anntares.com
Veils of Justice
Rehearsed reading of new revised script through Riant Theatre.com in 2020:
2016 - Earlier Draft received a staged reading produced by TRU - Theater Resources Unlimited when the script was selected for the TRU VOICES 8th ANNUAL PLAY READING SERIES
VEILS OF JUSTICE by T. Anntares
Can a young Saudi, accused of rape and robbery, find justice in a post 9/11 NYC courtroom?
Directed by David Stallings
Cast, in order of speaking:
John A. Nelson (Stage Directions)
Kenneth Talberth, (Doug Wingate)…Chris S. Ogren, (Mazen “Zen” Tamedo)…
Kathleen A. O’Neill, (Lynn Payne Wingate)… Patricia M. Lynn (Miriam Joseph, Esq)…
Carol Hickey (Geraldine White, Esq)… Larry Daggett (Chris Payne)
Staged reading at Soho Playhouse, 15 Vandam St, NYC 10023
STAGED READING produced by Bob Ost's Theater Resources Unlimited (www.TRUonline.org) with Connie Winston, co-producer and Frank Zuback, advisor. Supported in part by public funds from the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and Council Member Inez E. Dickens, 9th Council District, NY State Council on the Arts and The Friars and Montage Foundations.
After the reading, a "Dollars and Sense" panel included:
Pat Addiss, producer (Gigi, A Christmas Story, Dinner with the Boys, Buyer and Cellar, Promises Promises, Little Women); Patrick Blake, producer (The 39 Steps, Bedlam Theatre's Hamlet/St. Joan, My Life Is a Musical, Play Dead, The Exonerated); Daniel Kuney, general manager with Jumpstart Entertainment (Rock of Ages, Fela!, Reasons to Be Pretty); Tom Polum, producer (The Toxic Avenger, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, All Shook Up)
Comments from Audience members at the staged reading in response to request in program to email thoughts about what resonated, what didn't. Many of these comments also included very valuable suggestions for next draft (underway) and reflect the dynamic actors and supportive, deeply perceptive director, despite barely time to read through each scene 2-3 times.
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The Cast fo the Zoom reading:
STANLEY MARTIN as Mazen “Zen” Tamedo. Broadway credits include: Ensemble in Aladdin. International tour of West Side Story (Indio/Chino u/s), tour of Smokey Joe’s Café (Ken, Dance Captain), Hairspray (Fulton Opera House), The King and I, Show Boat (Sacramento Music Circus).
TAIT RUPPERT as Blake Wingate. Broadway credits include: Candida with Joanne Woodward at the Roundabout. Off-Broadway: Jay in Lonestar, Billy & Boo in Album. Film credits include supporting roles in Diner, Swordfish, Battlefield Earth, The General’s Daughter and Domestic Disturbance. TV: recurring roles on Arli$$ (HBO) and Fat Actress (Showtime).
MAGGIE MCCOLLESTER as Lynn Payne Wingate. TV credits include: guest star on Dexter (Showtime), The Unit (CBS) and Playdate (Lifetime), recurring role on The Young & The Restless (CBS) and One Life To Live (ABC).
ALICE ROSE DOWNES as Deena Joseph. Theatre credits include: Morticia in Adams Family Musical, Princess in A Soldier’s Tale, Margaret in Much Ado About Nothing and Euridice in House of Hades.
LISA SPONAUGLE as Geraldine “Gerrie” White. Television credits include a recurring role in Pushers, co-star in You Are The President and guest star in For My Man.
DYLAN COMBS as Chris Payne. Theatre credits include: Joseph in Not That Illegal (Strawberry One-Act Festival), Beowulf in Beowulf: A Comedy (Underling Productions), Laertes in Hamlet (Underling Prods.) and Senator Norval Hedges in Born Yesterday (Monomoy Theatre).
BIJOUX LUKELO as the Narrator. Theatre credits include: Pam Kansas/Black Panther in Billie and Malcolm: A Demonstration and Melissa Parker in This Means War (Castillo Theatre).
Guilty or not, can Mazen, a Saudi youth accused of raping and
robbing at knifepoint Blake, an American businessman, get a fair trial in post 9/11 New York City? This Muslim man’s fate depends three women: his Jewish defense lawyer Deena, determined to get justice not revenge; his accuser’s wife Lynn who asks her conservative gay brother to find out what happened; and Gerrie, a prosecutor trying to force a guilty plea or convict the first Saudi accused of any crime in New York since the attacks.
The characters show their sides of this story - fictional but inspired by an actual trial. By the time the jury’s verdict shocks all involved, we have witnessed some of the people on this journey break through barriers of fear, betrayals and prejudice into profound connection as human beings… and some could not take that journey.
Cast: 3 men, 3 women. Unit Set: Characters tell their sides of the story, with lighting and a prop or piece of furniture to indicate location; possible projection of news headlines, photos, etc.
Script: pages 4-85. Fictional but inspired by an actual trial, interviews with all involved except the judge, and reading of the 10-day trial transcript. Story rights from defendant and accuser's wife; characters are composites with identifying details changed The defendant asked the writer to tell what happened because even his friends would hear the charges and get that "you must have done something - no one would make that up" look.
Awards:
Winner, Theater Resources Unlimited's 2016 TRU Voices Reading Series (www.TRUonline.org)
Earlier draft awards and placements (previously titled Closets and Somebody's Son)
- Honorable Mention: Arch and Bruce Brown Foundation's contest for "plays about actual events that position LGBT life positively"
- Semi-Finalist in top 3% of Beverly Hills Theatre Guild - Julie Harris Playwright Award Competition
- Semi-Finalist, Ashland New Plays Festival
- Finalist, MT Works Newborn
- Winner, WILDsound