Defamation: The Play

RACE, RELIGION AND CLASS COLLIDE IN THIS EXCITING NEW COURTROOM DRAMA.

DEFAMATION is ideal for high schools, colleges, congregations, theaters, workplaces and civic organizations. The play is an old- fashioned courtroom drama. The premise is a civil suit: A South Side African-American woman sues a Jewish North Shore real estate developer for defamation. The legal issue is whether or not she was falsely accused of stealing his watch and causing her financial harm. The trial runs 80 minutes. What follows is a 15-minute audience deliberation led by the judge. The judge polls the audience twice - before the deliberation begins and at its end. The final vote for the plaintiff or for the defendant decides the outcome of the trial. Typically, a post-show discussion with the audience, playwright and cast follows the end of the play. Overwhelmingly, audiences stay for the discussion, and the conversation about race, class, religion and all isms grows richer.