The Bible's most notorious traitor is put on trial in a present-day urban courtroom in a darkly funny look at the meaning of redemption by playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis. Director Josh T. Ryan (Zombie Joe's Underground) takes the reins, upping the ante to create a lean, complex and gritty revival at the Hudson Mainstage, opening tonight, July 19.
Scathingly provocative with edgy, streetwise dialogue, colorful characters and courtroom shenanigans of the highest order,The Last Days of Judas Iscariot is a searing look at history's most infamous double-cross. Set in an area of downtown Purgatory where "it don't smell good," Judas is tried by a Civil War deserter, and those called to the stand include Mother Teresa, Freud, a host of saints and sinners and the Prince of Darkness himself. As the trial goes on, we are forced to re-examine old truths and consider what it means to forgive.
In an interview, Guirgis explained that he has been incubating doubts about the nature of God's will ever since, as an eight-year-old in a Catholic school, he first learned of Judas' condemnation.
"It threw me a big jolt," he said. "I was little but I remember thinking, well, if I can forgive someone, why can't God, who was supposed to be all loving. That was the beginning of the end of my Christian experience."
"The interesting thing about this play," suggests Ryan, "is that its message - that salvation is available - is fascinating for people of all faiths, or for people of no faith at all. It uses bite, wit and charm to tackle some really fundamental truths: unconditional love, a shot at redemption, personal responsibility, soul examination and a sincere look at what forgiveness might feel like."
RoBert Walters (Two Cosmic Brothers Unshackle Mother Earth at Zombie Joe's Underground) takes on the role of Judas Iscariot, with Cooper Daniels (Stash in the world premiere of Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians, directed by Rapp) as Jesus and Keedar Whittle (BET's Hell Date, CW's One Tree Hill) as Pontius Pilate. Witnesses include Marc Erickson (American premiere of The Imaginary Life of the Street Sweeper at Casa 0101) as Satan, Robert Gee (DOMA's Dreamgirls) as Simon the Zealot, Christian R. Gibbs (Neighbors at Mixed Blood Theatre) as St. Matthew, Faith Imafidon (Charles Mee'sTrojan Women a Love Story, Alice in Alice vs. Wonderland at American Repertory Theatre) as Saint Monica,John Dana Kenning (End Days for Echo Theater Company) as Matthias of Galilee and Saint Peter, Melissa May (online web series The Life of Dad) as Sister Glenna, Robin Michelle McClamb (The Piano Lesson at Mill Mountain Theatre, Jar the Floor at GeVa) as Mother Teresa, Wasim No'mani (ZJU's Christmas For Bukowski, Death of A Salesman) as St. Thomas, Alex Walters (Two Cosmic Brothers Unshackle Mother Earth at ZJU,Love Song at Rude Guerrilla) as Sigmund Freud and John Szura (The Fantasticks at Sierra Madre Playhouse) as Caiaphas The Elder. The legal team is made up of John Falchi (Balm in Gilead at the Road Theatre Company, Stumpy's Gang at the Matrix) as Judge Frank Littlefield, Sarah Ruth Ryan (Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday) as the defense attorney and Robert Paterno (Measure for Measure at Theatricum Botanicum) as the prosecutor. Dee Smith portrays Judas' mother as well as Mary Magdalene, and also produces for Breedlove Productions.
Originally conceived for and produced by the critically acclaimed
LAByrinth Theater Company, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot continues Guirgis' string of critically acclaimed works tackling religious themes from a modern, urban perspective. It premiered at New York's Public Theater in March, 2005 in a production directed by
Phillip Seymour Hoffman that starred
Sam Rockwell,
Eric Bogosian,
Stephen McKinley Henderson and
Jeffrey DeMunn. The development and rehearsal process of the original run was chronicled in the book "A Jesuit Off-Broadway" by the production's religious consultant, Father
James Martin.
Stephen Adly Guirgis was raised on New York's Upper West Side, by an Egyptian father and an Irish-American mother. He went to Catholic school in Harlem, and later attended the State University of New York at Albany for more than seven years, finally finding his passion for theater after seeing a production of
Lanford Wilson's Burn This starring
John Malkovich. He later joined
LAByrinth Theater Company, a group founded in 1992 by a small group of actors who wanted to push their artistic limits and tell new, more inclusive stories that expanded the boundaries of mainstream theater. Guirgis is now one of the artistic directors of LAByrinth. Several of his shows have premiered with LAByrinth, including Den of Thieves; In Arabia We'd All Be Kings; Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train; Our Lady of 121st Street;The Last Days of Judas Iscariot; The Little Flower of East Orange and The Motherf***er With The Hat.
The Last Days of Judas Iscariot opens tonight, July 19 and continues through August 24, with performances on Fridays and Saturdays @ 8 pm. Tickets are $30; students and seniors get in for $20. The Hudson Mainstage is located at 6539 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90038. For information and to purchase tickets, call (323) 960-7738 or go to
www.plays411.com/judas.
