BOSTON — Suffolk University’s Performing Arts Office recently presented its Pioneer Performance Series, The Exonerated, which brought to life the tragedy of innocent inmates on death row.

As the play began, lights came up upon the entire cast sitting in chairs upon a multitude of levels on stage. The play went on to follow the story of six people–Kerry Max Cook, Gary Gauger, Sonia “Sunny” Jacobs, David Keaton, Delbert Tibbs and Robert Earl Hayes—all who were wrongly convicted of capital murderer charges and sentenced to death row.

In 2000, the authors of the play, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, attended an anti-death penalty conference at Columbia University. It was this experience that led them to write The Exonerated. They interviewed sixty people from different backgrounds, ages, ethnicities, locations, and religions. But all had spent time on death row, and all were innocent. Continue reading →