Production Will Benefit Ohio Innocence Project

The Ohio Innocence Project, based within the University of Cincinnati College of Law, will be the beneficiary from the Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati's upcoming regional premiere of A Lesson Before Dying.

The production of award-winning playwright Romulus Linney's work will run Jan. 28-Feb. 15. Based on the novel by Ernest J. Gaines, A Lesson Before Dying is the engrossing, moving story of Jefferson, a young black man who, in 1948, is convicted of murder and sentenced to death for a crime he did not commit and the bond he forges with Grant Wiggins, a reluctant schoolteacher who attempts to impart his learning and pride to Jefferson before his death.

A Lesson Before Dying is exclusively sponsored by The Lois and Richard Rosenthal Foundation to benefit The Ohio Innocence Project. "We are honored to be working with The Ohio Innocence Project," said D. Lynn Meyers, ETC's Producing Artistic Director who is also directing Lesson, "and to bring to the stage this remarkable adaptation of a brilliant book."

Innocence Projects throughout the country allow law students, under the supervision of professors, to investigate the cases of inmates convicted of serious crimes who have steadfastly maintained their innocence. In 2002, the University of Cincinnati College of Law, along with interested members of the community, began an effort to bring an Ohio Innocence Project to the law school.

The Ohio Innocence Project is under the supervision of UC law professor and Faculty Director Mark Godsey, a former federal prosecutor, and Administrative Director John Cranley, a Cincinnati City Councilman. Their mission is to not only identify Ohio prisoners who might be innocent and work towards their release, but to provide practical legal experience for law students that cannot be matched in the classroom or in most legal jobs available to law students.

More than 300 Ohio cases have been screened by The Ohio Innocence Project to date and seven cases are currently under active investigation. The Ohio Innocence Project is funded entirely through private donations and is associated with the Center for Law & Justice at the University of Cincinnati College of Law.

Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction, A Lesson Before Dying was part of Cincinnati's On the Same Page, a diversity-through-literature program. ETC's Theatre of the Mind play-reading series featured a professional reading of A Lesson Before Dying in support of On the Same Page in 2002. It was enthusiastically received.

Meyers decided to build a full production. "A season dedicated to justice and liberty would be incomplete without this essential play," she said. "This is an astonishing look at the value of a human life and the necessity for justice for everyone."