Witnessing to a Murder

Elizabeth O’Sullivan

Two women meet briefly in a hallway. Gunshots kill one of them send the other crashing through the boundaries that separate her from horror and from the voice of God.

Cast:

Elizabeth O’Sullivan (author and performer) has performed at the Guthrie, Theatre in the Round Players, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Manna Fest, and the Minnesota Renaissance Festival, where she earned the Cracked Cup Award for best new street character. She has published a children’s book, and her essays have appeared in StarTribune, Midwest Home & Garden, and other publications.

Ian Rhoades (drummer) is an English teacher at Highland Park Junior High in St. Paul.

Anita O’Sullivan (director) has been part of the Twin Cities theater scene for four decades. She has performed at the Old Log Theater, the History Theater, Theatre in the Round Players, the Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company, and many others. Recently, she delighted in performing in Looking for Normal with the Artisphere theater company.

Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) silently assist with each performance. They include attenders of Twin Cities Friends Meeting, Minneapolis Friends Meeting, Prospect Hill Friends Meeting, and Laughing Waters Friends Worship Group.

Schedule:

Tuesday, May 27, 5:30 PM
Thursday, May 29, 7:00 PM
Friday, May 30, 7:00 PM
Saturday, May 31, 2:30 PM
Sunday, June 01, 4:00 PM

Location:

Church of Youth

Press Material:

print-ready photo
press release
web site

Contact:

elizabethosulli@hotmail.com

Rate this show:

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7 Reviews for Witnessing to a Murder

  1. I’ve only seen a video of last year’s presentation of this show, but I found it incredibly moving. There is one moment in particular that took my breath away with its vision of how the world could be if we all really understood the nature of community and justice. Which sounds high-falutin’ but was expressed so simply and with such heart that it took me by surprise even as it made me say, “Yes. That’s the world I want to live in. How do we create that world.”

    I’m really looking forward to seeing it again in person.

    Comment by Nancy Donoval — May 25, 2008 @ 5:41 am

  2. Moving, riveting, and memorable. Highly recommended.

    Comment by Naomi Kritzer — May 28, 2008 @ 2:59 am

  3. An absolutely beautiful, radiant show — at once achingly personal, and arms-thrown-wide universal. Elizabeth’s writing is simple but gorgeously poetic, and she discards the conventions of linear storytelling and journalistic background information in favor of giving the play a more internal arc of emotion and spirituality, jumping back and forth between her experience of finding (and losing, and finding again) gentleness, peace and wonder in the silence of Quaker worship with the effort to process and heal from unwitting involvement in a heartbreakingly UN-silent urban crime. You wouldn’t think there could be humor in such a wrenching story, but Elizabeth finds it. You wouldn’t think that small sensory details could pack such a wallop, but Elizabeth is a master at using them to carry the weight of this tale, from a barely-open door to the stance of a man’s legs. She also finds amazing and powerful metaphors for the stages she passed through following this experience (I gulped with empathy when she talked of “days and days of sick and dirty loneliness”), and the combination of her fantastic words and brave, committed delivery keeps the audience engaged heart and soul.

    I think “Witnessing to a Murder” leaves *some* information gaps that we want filled — like, who WAS the woman who died? What exactly happened? Didn’t Elizabeth ever get angry at god, or lose her faith, and if not, why? HOW did she eventually make peace with the nagging echoes of this event — what finally did make that horrible drum beat “leave her alone”? But having some spaces where we don’t know the answers doesn’t detract from the power of this play, and maybe it even, cleverly, brings Elizabeth’s message home that much more…that every silence is another chance to listen; another chance to be surprised at what we might hear.

    Comment by Amy Salloway — May 28, 2008 @ 3:20 am

  4. I believe I may have biked past that crime site, long ago…steering clear, because *something* bad was going on (the long standoff). When you’re on bike, you come closer to a lot of things (than you do in a car) - many times without intending to.

    You could read the energy of the site, and know you’d be seeing it on the news. *That* obvious. The tragedy, at that time, was only half over.

    I also believe I met Elizabeth at a Friends fundraiser sale one Saturday morning around that time - That she would soon rise from her congregation, and tell her story with beautiful, quiet intensity. Riveting. Wonderful.

    Comment by Kay Kirscht — May 28, 2008 @ 1:21 pm

  5. Everyone has a story. Elizabeth told hers with such compassion and spiritual introspection that I felt I was with her every step of the way. Beautiful. Thank you, Elizabeth! Linda Lee

    Comment by Linda Lee — May 31, 2008 @ 4:23 am

  6. This was a terrific performance of a terrific piece. Elizabeth slowed down the drama of those terrible moments and really helped us to examine how she felt, and how we might feel, in such a situation. She also explained much about the Quaker tradition. The writing was beautiful and moving, thank you Elizabeth.

    Comment by Liz Hill — May 31, 2008 @ 3:52 pm

  7. This was an incredible performance that spoke so powerfully about the grit and horror of life terrorized by trauma, yet the Traumatized Redeemer who is there with us through it all. Glory to God! Well done!

    Comment by Susan Pederson — June 3, 2008 @ 10:31 pm

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