THE RIDE at Saint Joseph's University

My one-act play, The Ride, will play Friday, May 1st at 7:30 pm at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia. The production is part of "Senior Projects in Performing Arts", a public forum for senior fine and performing arts majors to showcase their work.

The play is directed by SJU senior Edwin Lashley, and is performed by Lashley and fellow fine and performing arts major Reid Smith.

This work is one of my first plays-- completed eight years ago in 2001-- and has played to audiences in Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Austin, Denver, and Marietta, Ohio. It is based on the 1984 capital murder trial of Calvin Burdine, in which his court-appointed attorney fell asleep while defending him. Calvin, who pled "not guilty", is still in prison and will be for the remainder of his life.

The writing of this work was made possible by Mr. Burdine himself, as well as his new attorney, Robert McGlasson. I thank them again for their guidance and help and bravery.

I am happy that this story will be told again before an audience, and I look forward to continuing to learn the play through the choices made by these young artists.

Thank you to Renee Dobson, head of the Fine and Performing Arts Department, for requesting my plays for the students to work on, and big thank yous to Edwin and Reid for the work they've put into the project.

For those of you in Philadelphia, I'd love for you to attend the event. It will be free, and, as always, it is nice to see friendly faces in the audience. You can check out the rest of the details on the Facebook event page.


ROMERO