EXHIBIT A
The premise of Exhibit A is simple. A police officer (Charles R. Bowen Jr.) and a young man (William C. Moore) burst into the room, as if the cop has chased the man in off the street. There’s a brief explosive scuffle, during which the police officer is apparently stabbed in the leg. Once the young man is subdued, the two agree to allow the audience to decide the guilt or innocence of the alleged criminal. But no specific crime is ever mentioned, and the question the audience must decide becomes whether or not the police officer should take the young man outside and “kick his ass.”
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Part of the reason the audience hesitated lies in the piece itself: Wild Onion’s production tries to be too real. In this highly artificial setting–we’re all holding programs and staring at each other–the actors direct an awful lot of energy toward trying to make us believe literally in what is happening. As a result, the entire event becomes fake. For example, one audience member asked Hennessey, “Where is your wound?” He quickly responded, “On my leg,” and turned away from the questioner. Obviously the audience member asked the question that could have caused the entire play to collapse–we’re all supposed to overlook the fact that no real injury took place, even though Hennessey acts as if it has (in fact, the wound in his leg is part of the reason he decided not to take Malcolm down to the station in the first place). And once the first lie is exposed, all the others–the knife is a toy, Hennessey and Malcolm are actors–cannot be avoided, and the issues the piece wants to explore become irrelevant.
