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May 9, 2003/Iyar 7 5763, Vol. 55, No. 37
'Parade' still 'resoundingly relevant'
ALISA SLOAN
Special Sections Editor
When director Jim Linde learned that Theater Works was planning to produce the musical "Parade," about the lynching of Leo Frank, he asked if he could direct it.
Linde was initially intrigued by the music but soon became more involved in the story itself.
"The more I learned about the show, as in once I read the script and began to immerse myself in research on the story, it really is an amazing piece of historical theater," he says. "It tells a story that happened nearly 100 years ago but is so resoundingly relevant today that it's one of the few shows I've worked on that I would describe as an 'important' piece of theater."
"Parade" is based on the true story of Leo Frank, the manager of a pencil factory - and a Jew - in Atlanta, who in 1913 was accused of raping and strangling Mary Phagan, a 14-year-old Christian girl who worked at the factory. Frank was 29 years old and had managed the factory for five years. He was also serving as president of the Atlanta chapter of B'nai B'rith.
The sensationalized trial was riddled with rumors and inconsistencies. The main testimony against Frank came from the man widely known to be guilty of the crime. Many others vouched for Frank's innocence, but the prevailing anti-Semitic feelings in the town were powerful enough to pressure jurors into a conviction.
After an appeal by Frank's wife, Lucille, Georgia's governor commuted Frank's death sentence, but Frank was not to live out his life in prison. An armed mob broke into Georgia State Prison, pulled Frank from his cell, drove him to Phagan's childhood home, and hung him from an oak tree. They celebrated by taking photographs depicting Frank's lifeless body dangling above a horde of grim-faced men. For years afterward, Georgia drugstores sold postcards of the lynching.
"The message of the piece ("Parade") really reflects on - to a great degree - prejudice," says Linde, "and how sim-ple it is to form conclusions about people, regardless of your familiarity with them. (It demonstrates) how eager we are to pigeonhole people and make them scapegoats for larger groups of people simply because they're at hand."
In addition to that, he continues, the play "also deals with the public's consumption of media and how when the media gets hold of truth, it can be distorted."
According to historical accounts provided by the University of Michigan, the Atlanta Constitution offered rewards, misquoted primary sources and buried retractions, while at the same time providing a pulpit for the prosecutor.
According to Linde, "Parade" paints a complete picture of the story.
"The play really does focus on the media attention the story gets and how that so fueled the public's desire for revenge," he says. Meanwhile, "The political figures in the story were so conscious of this public desire that they pushed themselves to get the trial going and to get a conviction - right or wrong."
"Parade" also delves into the relationship between Leo and Lucille.
"It sort of examines their relationship and how Leo is very self-sufficient and almost shuts Lucille out the beginning of the show," explains Linde, "(and then) truly comes to depend on her for his life. And she does put all of her energies into saving his life."
Linde hopes audiences will be emotionally impacted by the production.
"If people can come out reflecting on their own values and perhaps come out not so willing to judge people very quickly, I'd say that would be a good benefit for having seen the story and having gone through the trouble of telling them this story," he says.
Because of this occurrence in history, the Anti-Defamation League exists. On the opposite side of that spectrum, the Ku Klux Klan also exists as a direct result of events in this story, Linde explains.
"It really is the biggest and most momentous story I'll have been engaged in telling, and I feel really kind of blessed to be in association with people who feel as strongly about the story as I have found myself feeling about it."
Details
- Who: Theater Works
- What: "Parade"
- When: May 9-June 1
- Where: The Lakes Club, 10484 W. Thunderbird Blvd., Peoria
- Cost: $19.50 adults, $17.50 seniors and military, $16 students
- Call: 623-815-7930
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