WITNESSES FOR THE PROSECUTION
Taking place within the confines of a witness room in Manhattan Criminal Court, four obdurate NYPD officers who have “done all this before and know what to say” are coached by the Prosecuting Attorney, who is fact-checking their testimony prior to a drug suppression hearing. She has instructions on what they should say to prove their evidence statements to be true. Everything seems on the up-and-up until it becomes very apparent these men plan to answer the malicious defense attorney’s every question, putting their jobs in jeopardy. The explosive new play The Witness Room by Pedro Antonio Garcia, with electric direction by Bryan Rasmussen, is making its world premiere at The Whitefire Theatre.
Tricia Small
The cast is led by the dynamic Tricia Small as the calculating Prosecutor Andrea Volpi, who has done her homework to discover any negative life facts about each of the officers, using it to convince them how to battle the charges of corruption and racism being leveled against them. No doubt she majored in Psychology prior to law school and is using her mindreading abilities to control the men. But things go wrong as they start to testify individually offstage, then return to reveal exactly how the others must change their testimony to match the lies just shared.
As things begin to unravel, the officers examine their sense of morality and loyalties when it comes to telling the truth. With the blue wall of silence among the NYPD, is it worth falsifying evidence just to get the suspected perp off the street and protect the “good people” of NYC from evil? Is that worth sending an innocent “profiled” person away if their only guilt is being in the wrong place at the wrong time? Or the wrong color? Or do the officers really have innate knowledge in identifying the guilty due to time spent patrolling the town’s mean streets?
As the play moves swiftly through its 95 minutes (with one unnecessary intermission), the officers at the start — all full of sexual bravado and convinced this is just another case like so many others — seem to be overly confident in their jobs and personal lives. At first, Attorney Volpi seems like a pushover until things fall apart with the officers’ testimonies and she shows her skill at mind manipulation. Plot points regarding each character surprise as she manipulates the men’s thoughts to get exactly what she wants. And she is ready to do just about anything to protect her reputation, including fabricating lies of her own.
Garcia is to be commended for this tightly written and provocative play, with each character brought into crystal clear focus by the fully engaged actors who represent a cross-section of cultures, races, and religions in the NYPD. Of course, those differences often generate attacking each other’s beliefs and motivations, encouraging lies to protect the guilty among their own.
Louie Liberti, Moe Irvin, Tricia Small, Mitch Rosander, Dave Baez
The most outspoken and sure-of-himself officer, TJ Moretti is played with a true Italian street-smart attitude and swagger by Louie Liberti. But as things go wrong for him while testifying, his anger overcomes his psyche and he lashes out at everyone else rather than accepting responsibility for his own actions. Up for promotion to Detective, Black officer Terrence Sampson (an effective Moe Irvin) — perhaps the most intelligent of the cops — walks the fine line between standing up for himself and staying quiet on race issues when they arise.
Puerto Rican officer El Torres (played with understated intensity by Dave Baez) and Irish-Catholic officer Kevin Brennan (Mitch Rosander) question each other about their belief in always telling the truth, as well as the other Commandments upon which their faith is built. Their discussions are perhaps the most profound in the play, leading to an impactful final scene.
The play’s production team boasts the talents of set designer Jeff Rack, lighting designer Derrick McDaniel, sound designer Mitch Rosander, costume designer Laura Tiefer, and fight choreographer Bonzai Vitali, whose ability to take the inner turmoil within each officer’s mind and transform it into explosive physical altercations will grab your attention and keep you gasping at what may happen next.
For adult audiences, The Witness Room speaks to Whitefire’s vision of producing socially relevant and provocative work that challenges the audience to examine their lives in our current racially tense environment between the police and the citizens they are sworn to protect. I walked away realizing that all humans are flawed, try as we might to hide it, and when the truth is revealed, it takes a secure person to accept their faults, forgive the revealer, and move on. For if these officers can do it, the rest of the world surely could as well. At least, we can hope that’s true.
photos by Kenny Johnston
The Witness Room
The Whitefire Theatre, 13500 Ventura Blvd. in Sherman Oaks
Saturdays at 8
ends on April 27, 2024
for tickets, ($25-$40) call 818.687.8559 or visit Whitefire