The Chicago Conspiracy Trial
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Clark, Murdock, Richard
Photo by Ron Sossi
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By Ben Miles
This docudrama is now being staged at the Odyssey Theatre in West Los Angeles--through December 16. Dramatized in 1979 by Ron Sossi and Frank Condon, the current re-enactment of this actual and seminal 1968 courtroom event has resonance in our present era. After all, we too are living in an epoch of revolution, revolt, and reaction. Though condensed, the words of the Conspiracy script are transcribed precisely from court records. Some names have been changed, and testimony has been admittedly combined in various instances for the sake of "structural unity" and play-worthiness. But the story of eight defendants standing, in outrage and at times with outrageousness, against U.S. policy remains riveting to this day.
Under Frank Condon's intricate direction, Conspiracy plays like a study in social chaos. A geriatric jurist, Judge Julius Hoffman, presides over a historic judicial breakdown. Before the five-month tribunal is over, Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, Arlo Guthrie, Judy Collins, and Jesse Jackson have all been summoned to testify, under oath; Black Panther Party leader Booby Seale has been coercively silenced by order of the court; and defendants Abby Hoffman and Jerry Rubin have appeared in front of the judge blowing kisses toward the jury and wearing magistrate gowns. Later, Graham Nash wrote an ode to the occasion: It begins with these words about Bobby Seale's predicament, "So your brother's bound and gagged, and they've chained to a chair."
Just as the protest song vividly captures and frames a defining image of the period, The Chicago Conspiracy Trial reiterates, with passion-play intensity and rock opera sentiment, an unvarnished American moment. The show commemorates, as well as mythologizes, that bizarro bubble in time. Conspiracy is surely a warning against judicial excess, but it might also be viewed as another lesson in Shakespeare's old adage, "All's well that ends well." Defendant Tom Hayden did go on to serve as a California State Senator. Defendant John Froines now teaches in the School of Public Health at the University of California Los Angeles. And, Bobby Seale devotes his time to the renowned youth education program known as R.E.A.C.H!
Conspiracy's ensemble of performers (including the credible Andy Hirsch as radical Abbie Hoffman; John Ross Clark and Brian Reid as the uptight prosecutorial team, and Grady Lee Richmond in an uncanny incarnation of beat-poet, Allen Ginsberg) blend like a quilt: Individual patterns link together to become a colorful whole. Still, George Murdock, as Judge Julius Hoffman, is an unlikely center in this crazy-cloth courtroom drama. Murdock's characterization ranges from avuncular to tyrannical, and is stunningly credible in each nuanced modality.
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial makes a good case for the notion that life is imitating art. From the start, this company puts a sense of systematic reality into this true-life story. Before we take our seats, we witness an outdoor pre-show protest and demonstration. There's a songfest, with an acoustic guitar as melodic backup: "One, two…What are we fightin' for?" Soon a "United States Marshall" appears from the side of the building; he asks us to file into the would-be justice center. Once inside, we are seated in accordance with courtroom decorum. There's the judge's bench; the witness stand; and the federal bailiffs, along with the obligatory, albeit only occasional, frisking of individuals as they enter this jurisdictional domain--a space where U.S. history is about to be combined with theatrical imagination. There are two large screens on either side of the stage. Scenes and written information are projected onto them; the former, making us privy to photo archives and artifacts from those tumultuous times; the latter, relaying important data such as attorney names--William Kunstler was one of the high-flying legal eagles involved in the case (played by the capable Kent Minault).
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial is challenging theater. It has a perspective that makes it cathartic, like socio-drama, for some viewers. Others, however, may take exception to some of the issues and methods brought forth. Either way, it's your turn to be the judge.
Show times are Wednesday- Saturday at 8 p.m. Matinees are on Sundays at 2 p.m. To reserve seating, dial (310) 477 - 2055. For more information, visit, www.odysseytheatre.com
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