Musical notes somber past

Written by Steven Giles
(sgiles2@mscd.edu)
Photos by Linh Ngo
(lngo@mscd.edu)

The large double doors leading into the Eugenia Rawls Courtyard Theatre are heavy to open.
But once opened, the doorway transports you to the American South, circa 1913.
You stand in Atlanta as a spectator watching the tragic story of an unlucky man unfold before you.

The true story of Leo Frank, the only Jewish person lynched on American soil, is depicted in playwright Alfred Uhry and composer Jason Robert Brown’s play “Parade,” which opened on Broadway in 1998.

Director Scott Lubinski said he chose the play for its cutting edge in showing social issues.
“The play is a slice of American life that is not very complimentary,” Lubinski said.
The play opens with Confederate Memorial Day festivities.

There is a parade and dancing. Children are running about with cotton candy and balloons. The entire town is celebrating.

But in the early morning hours after the celebration, night watchman Newt Lee makes several calls to Leo. After a series of unanswered calls, Lee reports to the police that he found the body of 13-year-old Mary Phagan covered in a white sheet in the basement of Leo’s pencil factory, where she worked.

Jim Conley, a convicted criminal prone to violence and drinking and former member of a chain gang, tells many different stories to the police during the investigation, always deflecting suspicion from himself and directing it toward Leo, even when others give police tips that he may in fact be Mary’s killer.

Jim was a con man and didn’t feel bad for one minute about lying, said Tyrell Donaldson, the actor who plays him.

He added that Jim was smart but acted dumb and told a tale the white people in charge believed.
“I am reminded of how things have changed but are still the same,” Donaldson said.

The handful of suspects, including Jim, are cleared and released one by one. Leo is the last one and he is arrested and put on trial for young Mary’s death.

The cards are stacked against Leo from the beginning because he is Jewish, from the North, a graduate of Cornell and married to Lucille Selig.

Lucille is from a wealthy Atlanta family who had built the city’s first synagogue generations before, a Southern faux pas to say the least.

It’s a musical with an ensemble cast of 34 actors, Lubinski said. The students were encouraged to stretch themselves in their performance and were required to do further study and research, because it is a historical piece.

The play struck a chord with actress Courtney Capek, who plays Leo’s wife Lucille.

Lucille stays with Leo even though he pushed her away, because that’s what you did then, you supported your partner and did not leave a marriage, Capek said.

“I was saddened by the injustices that lead this man to being killed, just because someone lied,” Capek said.

With great fanfare and jubilation, Leo is arrested and charged with Mary’s murder.

Leo is put on trial in an era when hatred against minorities is accepted and the norm.

The local newspapers, The Atlanta Constitution and The Atlanta Georgian, sensationalized the trial and the competition between them was fierce. More than 40 special editions were published during the trial and The Georgian even published doctored morgue pictures of Mary.

At trial, prosecutor Hugh Dorsey compares Leo to Jekyll and Hyde, while the defense tries to discredit the witnesses with no success. Hugh later went on to become governor of Georgia with the assistance and endorsement of the press.

Witnesses were persuaded to lie when they testified against Leo.

Women factory workers told the court how Leo talked to them inappropriately but never describe how.

It doesn’t matter ­­­— in the end Leo is found guilty of killing Mary and sentenced to death. All of his appeals are rejected.

There is only one steady person in Leo’s life: Lucille Selig, his wife. Even though he continually pushed her away by saying unflattering things to her, she sticks by his side and even visits him in the jailhouse.

Unfazed by Leo’s rejection, Lucille fights relentlessly on his behalf until finally she is able to prove to Governor John Slaton the miscarriage of justice in her husband’s trial. After his own investigation he agrees and commutes Leo’s sentence to life in prison, believing that in time the sentence will work itself out.

Kevin Hindley, who played Leo, said this role has pushed him emotionally. “I’m 10 on scared and 10 on angry.

“I pushed Lucille away because I had a plan in life and I didn’t want to get close because it might mean a baby, and that wasn’t in the plan, “ Hindley said.

“It was uncomfortable being [Leo] because I was a villain, an outsider, and people keep saying things about me that were untrue,” Hindley said.

Hindley is acting differently now since he transformed into Leo for the play.

“A friend of mine said that I was withdrawn and seemed much sadder during this play than I had in others,” Hindley said.

“I hope the people that see the play have an outlet and time with their own sadness and allow themselves time to weep and heal,” Hindley said.

Transferred to a state prison farm to serve out his sentence, Leo is able to spend some private time with Lucille.

For Capek, the play has had an everlasting effect on her.

“I walk away from this play knowing that we can never go back to where we were 50, 60, 70 or more years ago,” Capek said. “Change can only come from within our own selves and only happen if we truly want it.”

During what turns out to be her last visit, Leo professes his love to Lucille, apologizing for his unacceptable behavior. They hold each other, lying on a blanket on the cold hard jail floor into the night until the drunken guard asks her to leave.

That would be the last time Leo would ever hold or be with his loving and supportive Lucille, for sometime in the early morning hours, Leo is kidnapped from the state prison farm by the “Knights of Mary Phagan” whose members number more than 20 and are prominent citizens of the community.

The mob brings Leo more than 240 miles away from his home. As they tighten the noose around his neck, Leo recites words in Hebrew and puts both of his palms together in prayer.

With his accusers looking on, Leo is lynched.