Los Angeles Times - MsTrial
Reviewed by Philip Brandes, Special to The Times
June 3, 2002 Court Theatre 722 N. La Cienega Blvd., West Hollywood.
A society in cultural flux that looks to its legal system to supply an ethical foundation inevitably falls short in the gray areas of human conduct. As a former prosecutor-turned-actor and writer, Dep Kirkland examines these limitations with an insider's eye in his new drama "MsTrial," a sobering study of a workplace flirtation that leads to sexual assault.
In a handsome staging at the Court Theatre, Kirkland stars as John Paris, a hotshot trial attorney whose knack for pushing the buttons of opponents, juries and even his own staff has him poised for a big win in a wrongful death suit. To secure victory, he has recently fleshed out his legal team with Karen (Amy Laxineta), an ambitious young lawyer who's as smart as she is attractive.
Paris makes no secret that Karen's good looks are key to his legal strategy. Karen willingly goes along, gamely joining in the ongoing office sexual banter as they prepare for the trial. But in the aftermath of a drunken celebration, Paris' talent for skirting moral principles lands him in big trouble when their hitherto innocent flirting propels him into skirt-chasing beyond Karen's boundaries. In a harrowing scene that flawlessly builds accelerating dramatic tension, Laxineta's Karen goes from enticing tipsiness to panic as she tries to stop her boss's advances.
Kirkland depicts a convincing steely determination that brooks no opposition in or out of the courtroom. Surprisingly in short supply, however, is the sympathetic charm that a lawyer of his success would use (if even cynically) to complement such an acerbic intellect. This makes it difficult to accept his prickly relationships with his staff--his younger cousin John (Daniel Burks), the play's foundering moral compass, would presumably be too accustomed to Paris' theatrics to fall for his constant needling without some underlying affection for his mentor. And Paris gives little basis for Karen's admitted attraction to him.
Forced to take sides between two people he cares about, Burks' impassioned John is a welcome contrast to Paris' ice, but director Barry Satchwell Smith still needs to smooth out the distractingly choppy beats in their exchanges.
A second-act deposition (helped by Jessica Steen as an increasingly exasperated prosecutor) establishes all the legal ambiguities that make the incident impossible to resolve in the courtroom. Kirkland is careful to lay out the reasons (including a measure of complicity on the victim's part) and ultimately establishes the moral culpability from which Paris cannot extricate himself. His shattering recognition is a potent reminder that whatever progress may have been made in diplomacy between the sexes, it's a long way from understanding.
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Backstage West - MsTrial
Reviewed By Polly Warfield
"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." This threat from Shakespeare's King Henry IV, Part II dates back to the 16th century--so we see distrust and dislike of lawyers is not new. Playwright Dep Kirkland is a former lawyer and a prestigious one as, among other things, original prosecutor in the real-life murder case on which the film Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil was based. His play seems to bolster this dislike and distrust. Throughout much of its first act playwright Kirkland also seems to be presenting a vanity production in which actor Kirkland can strut his stuff as leading man. Then, just as we're deciding this is the case, he provides knotty questions to ponder and he changes our mind. The play is very much about something. Kirkland has a knack for turning things topsy-turvy.
The actor's presence is commanding. Firm and fit, lean and trim, with shaven head, piercing blue eyes, jutting jaw, he looks like a Green Beret warrior, and as big-shot lawyer John Paris he runs his office like a Marine drill sergeant, dominating his trial assistants--John Livingston as his obliging cousin Dan and Amy Laxineta as brilliant, beautiful, promising Karen, perhaps more innocent than she looks. Throbbing tremolo of Deddy Tzur's background music expresses tension and anticipation that suffuses the atmosphere as the three discuss strategy for an important upcoming case. But if we thought it was to be a play about legal combat, it really isn't. It's about more primitive warfare between the sexes.
Intentionally or not, Karen's appealingly feminine, revealing get-up of skintight sweater and pants, high heels, tawny mane of long blonde hair is sexually provocative. She engages Dan in friendly flirtation that's going nowhere because he's gay--or so we're told. John watches with testosterone rising, and he has plenty of that. Something's gotta give, something's going to happen, and it does. After a victory party in which Karen's brilliance won the day, the first act ends with her brutal onstage rape.
The second act, a better one, deals with the mopping up and aftermath of turmoil, emotion, guilt, and grief. Kirkland, Laxineta, and Livingston turn in emotionally compelling performances. New characters are introduced--both excellent are Jessica Steen as a coolly competent district attorney and Phoebe McKenery Beacham as a sympathetic court reporter who looks enough like Karen to be her sister. Actor Barry Satchwell Smith makes his professional directorial debut with distinction, but he might insist that his actors speak more distinctly for the stage, and not allow excessive volume to substitute for emotional intensity in the shouting scenes.
Pete Santiago provided the handsome, carefully detailed office set. Lew Abramson's mellow lighting gives it a golden sheen. The play leaves us pondering persistent questions, subliminally suggesting but to its credit not excusing the part provocative dress and behavior may play in rape. Victim and rapist are left devastated, and in the final moment Paris murmurs with anguish--I think it was, "Victory to the righteous." I'm all for that.
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