“9 Circles”
Playwright: Bill Cain
Date of performance: Friday, February 10, 2012.
As the lights go up, the image is simple but arresting. Dusty army boots in the middle of a
stark, circular black stage. Four
soldiers, in full battle gear, desert camouflage, march smartly to center
stage.
The soldier in the black sunglasses comes to a stop and
begins his transformation from warrior to human being.
He removes his helmet, and his sunglasses. And finally, he removes his body
armor.
We can see his face, and we can see that he’s just a
kid. He’s maybe 19…perhaps
20. There’s a real person inside
that uniform. Daniel Reeves will
continue to strip off his battle hardened shell, before our very eyes, as he
descends through the 9 circles of his own personal hell.
Playwright Bill Cain’s script is based on an actual incident
in Iraq. Soldiers killed and raped
a 14 year old girl after murdering her mother, her father, and her 6 year old
sister. And in “9 Circles,” Daniel Reeves is held
accountable for those unspeakable crimes.
Cain, a Jesuit priest, forces us to confront and examine our
values. The worst manner of
atrocity has been committed in our name.
Even if our motives were noble, can that nobility justify the
predictable consequences of a 19 year old killer turned loose on innocent
victims?
Sean Scrutchins is a very talented actor with a promising
career ahead of him. But he may
never again get a role as good as Daniel Reeves. It’s a demanding, complex and tragic role. Scrutchins embraces Reeves. He becomes a coldblooded, uncaring,
brutal killing machine. He brings
the sociopath to life with a performance that is brilliant in both its depth
and width. He leaves nothing on
the table; he pours his entire being into the character. Both Scrutchins and the audience are
emotionally exhausted at the end of his performance.
Michael McNeill, Erik Sandvold, and Karen Slack provide
flawless support for Scrutchins’ performance with a variety of roles…lawyers, a
psychiatrist, a priest, and soldiers.
The ensemble works exactly as an ensemble should, creating the
characters and the chemistry to tell a compelling story. Slack’s nuanced portrayal of a
conflicted psychiatrist gives Reeves’ crimes context; she exposes the
institutional failures that create the conditions for his atrocities.
Reeves does his costume changes on stage. It sounds like a simple matter,
changing clothes in front of us.
But it has a powerful impact.
It makes the killer human to us.
We see him change from warrior to defendant to prisoner, and ultimately
perhaps even to victim.
As we see him go through those costume changes, we see him
stripped down to a person. He’s
not a caricature, not a faceless, nameless criminal. We have to look at him and admit that he’s real. He is like us. And we have to confront the fact that
we put a deeply flawed person in an impossible situation.
Every element …script, acting, direction, lighting, sound,
set, everything comes together here to create a rare theater experience. This is not just a performance; it’s a
gift to the audience. We are asked
to examine our values, and confront the atrocities that result from those
values.
This production asks us
the simple question: was it worth it? And we must, in some sense, answer it,
each of us, for ourselves, as we leave the theater. The gift we are given here is insight, into both our values,
and into ourselves.
That exercise, the examination of our values, is the
difference between a performance and art.
Theater is often entertaining, but it is seldom
enlightening. “9 Circles” is both.
Don’t miss the photos displayed at the back of the
theater. Master Sergeant Terry
Best’s photos are documentary evidence of the brutality of war; his captions
help us begin to understand the disturbing reality we rarely see.
For more information on the incident that inspired “9 Circles,” start here.
Genre:
contemporary drama.
This play is for adults. It includes adult language, nudity, and descriptions of violence.
This play closed on February 18, 2012.
CAST:
Daniel
Reeves: Sean Scrutchins
Man 1: Michael McNeill
Woman: Karen Slack
Man 2: Erik Sandvold
Playwright: Bill Cain
Director: Christy Montour-Larson
1080 Acoma Street
Denver, CO
80204
