One Night in Cranston...an Irishman's Dream and Vindication.
More Teeth - January 8, 2011
"When the Irish came to America...they quickly realized three things. First, the streets were not paved with gold. Second, the streets weren't paved at all. Third, the Irish would be doing the paving..."
Playwright Ken Dooley chuckles as he recites one his favorite lines from the script of 'The Murder Trial of John Gordon'. He often recounts the plight of the Gordons and 19th Century Irish immigrants with his own dialogue, his passion for the script and the subject animating his otherwise mild demeanor. It is a passion that has infected the cast and artistic staff of this production which debuts on the stage of the newly renovated Park Theatre in Cranston on January 14th. Aside from bringing a new play by a native Rhode Islander to a venue of this size (The Park can seat upwards of a thousand), producers Pi Patel and Paul Plourde have afforded an opportunity for Dooley and crew to put forward their version of the events which led to the murder of Amasa Sprague, one of Rhode Island's most eminent personages, on the last day of 1843. The accepted wisdom that has passed down through the centuries is that John Gordon, barely in the country for 6 months and hardly out of his twenties, was tried by a kangaroo court beholden to political interests and rampant prejudice and unjustly sent to the gallows for a murder he did not commit. However, not many theories as to an alternate suspect have stuck and Dooley wants to remedy that situation once and for all. 'The Murder Trial of John Gordon' proposes a very concrete alternative suspect to Sprague's murderer by taking the audience through the trial again and showcasing the evidence that was not allowed to be fully considered by the all-Yankee, non-Catholic jury.
As More Teeth is introduced to Director Pamela Lambert and several of the cast and crew during a recent rehearsal, it's evident that Dooley's enthusiasm is not one-sided. Lambert and cast member Bernard OReilly (a Catholic priest ordained in Ireland for ministry in this state, suitably enough) gush with praise for Dooley, calling him "the man responsible for all of this." Cast member Tray Gearing, a Cranston resident who, like Dooley, grew up in the shadow of the old Park Cinema and lived with the legends and legacies of the Gordons, Spragues and Durfees all around her tells us, "Ken's story is infectious, his passion is infectious." For an unknown script from an untested playwright, the level of investment, both emotionally and financially, from everyone involved seems extraordinary.
However, while 'Gordon' may be Dooley's live Theater debut, he's no first time author. In fact, regardless of how well 'Gordon' performs at the Box Office, he has another play ready and waiting for production at The Park later this year, 'The Auerbach Dynasty.' His 1992 novel, Management by Auerbach is only one of almost 40 books Dooley has published. We ask Dooley up front how an author who came from a background of screenplays and educational films winds up writing a straight play that could just as easily have been a treatment for TV or even large screen?
"This actually was a screenplay first before it was a play," Dooley admits. "I've always been a frustrated playwright, anyway." He tells us that his agent advised him to make the adaptation in reverse in order to give the film industry a chance to see material that they could, in turn, adapt into a screenplay. Such is Hollywood where adaptations of novels and stage plays fare far better than original work. But doesn't that leave him with the same problem in a densely packed Rhode Island Theater market that often values the tried and true over original productions? Dooley never saw it as an obstacle. After talking to him for two hours, it's obvious that he rarely sees anything as an obstacle. "I'm a wolf," he proudly proclaims, contrasting his outwardly sweet disposition. After receiving polite passes from Trinity Rep and others, Dooley took it in stride as a writer who has received a rejection notice or two in his time. At some point, though, he became aware of what was happening in his old hometown of Cranston with Piyush (Pi) Patel's investment in renovating The Park. With the main events of 'Gordon' occurring in and around a five mile radius of the Theater, it seemed a perfect opportunity to approach Patel with a pitch to tie in a local story and hometown boy with a chance to broaden the programming at the nascent venue. Partners Patel and Paul Plourde agreed to Dooley's proposed budget and became the de facto production company for the debut of 'The Murder Trial of John Gordon.'
Dooley's intentions for 'Gordon' however, quickly grew beyond a strategic grab at getting a play under his belt. Initial auditions were held on a broader regional scale, coming out of a Boston area casting agency and a largely unpublicized call at the Park itself. Dooley's original production scope was larger than a community theater-scaled exercise and he aimed outside of Rhode Island for talent. In some cases, far outside. "I've always hated these shows where you hear voices supposedly from Ireland and these bad accents that sound so fake." To that end, he drafted as many actors as he could that were the real deal - three members of the Gordon cast actually hail from Dublin. But, as it turns out, once all of the eventual shakeups in casting were over, his final choices featured a number of local Rhode Island actors, including some, like Gearing, who grew up and continue to live not far from Cranston. Dooley was impressed with the professionalism and dedication of actors and designers who did not have to be drafted from New York or Boston and it opened his eyes to the wealth of talent that exists in his own backyard.
So why would these actors agree to take on this unknown script that even the producers hope will just "break even"? There's no guarantee that anyone will even come see the show, at least until word of mouth and/or reviews bring in curious audiences in the final weeks. We ask Gearing if she passed her resume to Dooley because of an interest in the material or if it just sounded like a good gig close to home.
"Well, I knew this story, of course," she says. "I grew up in Cranston. I grew up with all these families (Spragues, Durfees, etc.) who were real people to me, not just stories. And of course, I grew up with The Park. We saw movies there all the time." But what about the play itself, beyond just the local interest? Gearing is a regular performer at both The Gamm in Pawtucket and Perishable Theatre in Providence, so why get involved with this script instead of just doing another show that you know has an audience? "I saw it as an opportunity," she says. "And talking to Ken, he was so sincere, he was so passionate. He was just...genuine. That was the lure for me."
That sentiment is shared by Director Lambert. "Everyone is fully invested in the story as well as the work. 100% of the cast believes 100% in the project. Seldom have I seen such a large cast pull together so quickly...and unselfishly...to bring this to fruition." She came to the production, originally, as a highly recommended assistant to Dooley, who intended to direct the piece himself. We ask what happened to convince Dooley that he should turn over the reins to someone else. "Well, I had always known that it was not a good thing to direct your own work," says Dooley. "I had heard that from both Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King who had just gone through a bad experience directing his own screenplay. And I knew after the first week (of directing 'Gordon') that I was too close to it. So I made a few phone calls and she (Lambert) came in as my assistant to help with blocking and so forth."
"I didn't know Ken previous to this project," says Lambert. "Jeff Gill (he and Lambert run a Theater company together in Plymouth, Massachusetts) was cast as 'Gordon''s Defense attorney, John Knowles, and he introduced us. Ken was so impressed," she laughs jokingly, "that he hired me instantly as his assistant. After a few rehearsals, Ken was so happy with my work he asked me to take over as director."
"I said to her, You know what? I want you to direct this play," Dooley concurs.
Stepping back gave Dooley more time to consider the big picture and see the larger ramifications of his work. Aside from the occasional lecture circuit appearance promoting the story of the injustice of Gordon's execution, Dooley got the script in front of Father Bernard Healy, lobbyist for the Providence Diocese, who managed to induce RI State Representative Peter Martin (D-Newport) to introduce legislation to formally exonerate Gordon. A victory for this Bill would be seen as final justice for Gordon and for all who suffered anti-Irish prejudice in the 19th and early 20th Century. While Gordon's hanging and the resultant uproar led to Rhode Island banning capital punishment in the state thereafter, the lack of a formal pardon seemed lacking to many, especially since the Sprague name continues to live on in Rhode Island while the Gordons have faded into history.
We ask Dooley if he ever considered contacting descendants of either family to see what their reactions would be to the play's definitive statements of Gordon's innocence and the Sprague family's overt complicity with presiding Justice Job Durfee, the Providence Journal's editor Henry Anthony and others to prejudge and force through Gordon's sentence.
"I was never able to find any family of the Gordons," says Dooley. "And, to be honest, I never really tried to contact anyone on the Sprague side. I was a little hesitant to hear of what they might think of this story." More Teeth contacted the Cranston Historical Society, which curates the Sprague Mansion, former home of Amasa Sprague, and asked if they had any awareness of the play and the efforts to formally exonerate John Gordon for the murder.
"We became aware of the play only recently, through stories in the local (Cranston) paper," they told us. "We think the play and the Bill are a good thing if they bring more interest in people coming to see and tour the Sprague mansion where Amasa Sprague lived before that horrible murder happened."
We also spoke to relatives of the Spragues who tell us that it's fairly well acknowledged that John Gordon did not murder Sprague, and that the downfall of the Sprague dynasty, which occurred shortly following Amasa's death, is more attributed by them to business conflicts with the Chaffee family in that period than the impact of the murder.
We ask Dooley if the tie-in publicity is in any way connected with his hopes to make 'Gordon' more than a break even success. Isn't the Box Office success of this play a precursor to any future acceptance of the originally intended screenplay?
"This play has national implications," he bristles. His other works contain similar threads of long ago prejudice of the last century that seem incomprehensible today. The idea that African Americans would not have been allowed in the NBA, for instance, is a centerpiece of Dooley's From White To Black and his Judgment at Yokohama centers around the search for the truth behind a Cranston man's Japanese captors in World War Two and the tragic humanity that is uncovered in the case documents. "I've written all over the country," he responds when we suggest that he may have an identity as a Rhode Island author. "I just happen to have come from Cranston."
But it is certainly Cranston where Dooley sees the future of what has come out of the process of producing 'Gordon'. He would love to nurture The Park as a home for a new Repertory Company for Rhode Island-based actors and Theater professionals. "I love this cast," he raves, and he goes on to list the performance and dedication of everyone involved, including Kyle Blanchette who serves double-duty as both John Gordon and as a member of the Scenic Design team, and Michael Healy who portrays the play's only fictional character - a Greek Chorus-like figure who comments on the events of the trial and illustrates the experience of the Irish-American's dream of a better life in America.
Dooley feels strongly about the potential of The Park as a home for Rhode Island Theater and he would love to see an entrenched Company expand beyond original works to musicals and maybe some Shakespeare. "I would even love to bring opera to Rhode Island," he beams, warming up to the subject of what might be possible if the passion he sees on exhibit for Gordon manages to live on after the show closes in February. "I have a lot of contacts," says Dooley. "There's a lot we can get done."
For more information, visit The Park Theatre website at www.parktheatreri.com
