Getting Out

On a peaceful Saturday night, I attended Georgia State University Player's production of "Getting Out." Not really knowing what I was in for, I walked into a theater space, sparce with audience members, and staring at a stage full of iron bars. I was listening to an attendant making announcements from time to time and didn't get to put all of it together until I read the program. I did note the program didn't have a synopsis of the play, telling the setting place, time period, etc. And there wasn't any intermission information - which would have helped out some of the guests who left at intermission.

The play was set in a prison, and also in an apartment. The play was the life of one woman, her past, the prison guards, the pimp, the mother and the neighbor. Not a play that I would chose, myself, to go and see, but because this place is like "home" for me, I attended. The end of Act I left me in a different place, as the poor woman who just got out of jail and trying to start her life over was almost raped by the security guard that brought her to the new home. I would have had a comment for the guard, Bennie played by Patrick Donohue, but I knew his gentle nature as a person had to come to grips as an actor in order to play this kind of person. And, in the end, he wasn't bad - he just had his own issues. The girl in question, Arlene, has her ghosts to handle as well: being a former prostitute, it was hard for her to let go of her past that kept showing up, the pimp played by Cameron Cross. Cameron did an excellent job playing someone the audience loved to hate. The pimp, Carl, ended up being the father of Arlene's son who is in the care of someone else since Arlene was in jail. Good strong character in both Arlene played by Bailey Sessions, and Arlene's past, Arlie, played by Sofia Siraj.

The whole subject matter of a woman out of jail, starting her life over, knowing she has a son out in the world, dealing with her past that put her in jail in the first place...it's hard to watch. It's hard to hear. But it's a lesson for all of us: starting over can happen for anyone, even the neighbor, Ruby played by Sarah Briggs. It was a strong cast and if this is their performance in college, the real world is in for a treat when they graduate.