What starts off as a capital punishment-vs.-life imprisonment debate develops into something considerably deeper and more powerful in Jason Karasev’s profoundly moving Death House, a Road Theatre Company World Premiere.

60something prison chaplain George (Sam Anderson) has spent the past twenty-two years comforting death row inmates during the last six hours of their lives, duties which have left the man an emotional wreck, his marriage in tatters.

 Enter his thirty-year-younger replacement Allen (Chase Cargill), here today to shadow his predecessor as yet another condemned murderer is afforded his last shower, his last meal, his moments of life on this earth.

From their first moments together, it becomes clear that the two men could hardly be more dissimilar.

Whereas Allen sees his future prison duties as a means of doing justice to the victims of violent crime, the past two decades have taught George the difference between justice and responsibility, and it’s a lesson his successor had better learn pronto.

Still, if there’s anything Allen is not, it’s lacking in confidence that what he is doing is God’s will. He has, after all, been preaching “an eye for an eye” since his first sermon at age seventeen, doubtless one reason prison authorities have hired him without seeking his predecessor’s input.

 There are hints from the get-go of darkness beneath Allen’s sunny, farm-boy exterior. George even goes so far as to accuse the younger man of an agenda fueled by hate, but nothing will convince his replacement that he might still have something to learn, that is until a knock sounds on the metal door of the waiting room where the two men have been exchanging not just verbal blows and in enters the condemned murderer, a young woman named Liliana Rice (Verity Branco) who will challenge every preconceived notion Allen has ever had about the job he is about to undertake.

Despite occasional moments when George and Allen might well be quoting talking points culled directly from debate.org, Karasev’s gut-puncher transcends death-penalty-play clichés in ways its suspenseful, conversation-provoking Act One blackout can only begin to suggest.

 Still, to reveal anything more than this would be, if not a capital crime, at the very least criminal-adjacent, and so Act Two’s unexpected twists and turns will be left for those in search of hard-hitting, heart-transforming theater to discover.

Karasev does cheat a bit in having a cassette tape that ought logically to be blank contain vital information about George’s past interaction with death row inmates, but the My Name Is Asher Lev star proves himself as adept a playwright as he is a gifted actor, and in George, Allen, and Lili he has given three Road Theatre Company stars the kind of roles a performer would kill to play.

 Under Michael Peretzian’s incisive direction, Anderson is simply breathtaking as a man haunted by the ghosts of men and women whose dying gasps he has witnessed and little patience for the vanity of a young man not so different from the fire-and-brimstone preacher he himself once was.

A perfectly cast Cargill gradually reveals the fissures under Allen’s smug self-righteousness, an equally memorable Branco takes Lili from hard-edged defiance to heartbreaking vulnerability, and each delivers an Act Two monolog that positively dazzles.

Scenic designer David Mauer’s minutely detailed set (kudos too to properties designer Christine Joëlle) captures the starkness of the prison waiting room George has done his best to turn into a place of comfort. Derrick McDaniel’s stunning lighting has been expertly designed to intensify moments of drama and intimacy. David B. Marling’s striking sound effects add to the horror of a condemned killer’s final hours. Costume designer Mary Jane Miller has confectioned three just right outfits. And fight director Björn Johnson has choreographed one throat-grabbing tussle.

 Death House is produced by Carlysle King, Tracey Silver, Brian M. Cole, and Carissa Pinckney and features original music by Patrick Joseph Rieger, whose prerecorded voice is briefly heard as Edgar Clark.

Michael Mulkey is assistant director and Susie Lever is second assistant director and intimacy coordinator. Maurie Gonzalez is stage manager.

Death House probably won’t change anyone’s stance on capital punishment, but it may open more than a few hearts to the humanity of even the most seemingly unforgivable of life-takers. At least one thing is for certain. The Road Theatre Company’s 2019 opener packs one hell of a punch.

Click here to read my Alternate Cast Performance review.

The Road on Lankershim, 5108 Lankershim Bl., North Hollywood.
www.roadtheatre.org

–Steven Stanley
January 18, 2019
Photos: Brian M. Cole

Tags: Jason Karasev, Los Angeles Theater Review, The Road Theatre Company