The Trial of the Catonsville Nine: When 1968 becomes 2009
The Actors’ Gang returns to the Modlin Center (with Tim Robbins in tow!) for a timely production of The Trail of the Catonsville 9. Check out this preview of the show… and enter to win free tickets!
A couple of years ago, I went to see a production of 1984 by the Actors’ Gang at the Modlin Center for the Arts. Powerful, loud, and entertaining all at once, the performance got right in my ashamed face and reminded me pertly that opportunities to see world-class theatre should not be squandered. *
Are you ready to not squander??? The Actors’ Gang is coming back to the Modlin Center for the Arts next week for a production of The Trial of the Catonsville Nine, with artistic director Tim Robbins in tow (yes! Tim Robbins!). The dramatization of the trial of nine civilly disobedient Americans in 1968 who had been arrested for burning Vietnam War draft records with homemade napalm has been adapted from the original text, written by Rev. Daniel Berrigan, one of the nine themselves. These eight men and one woman, all staunch Catholics and several actual members of the clergy, were moved by a seemingly endless war that conflicted with their religious and patriotic beliefs to stage this peaceful protest at the Selective Service office.
In the midst of another seemingly endless war, it’s easy to spot the motivations behind this play’s revival by the Actors’ Gang (based in Los Angeles). Diving farther into the history of each of the nine, as mediated by the prosecutor and judge, we are invited to compare their unwavering dedication to their personal faiths to the legal faiths on which we all depend. Are the rest of us necessarily less concerned with the fate of America’s sons and daughters because we do not create our own napalm, call the newspapers, and then use it to destroy public records while the world watches? Who sets our moral compass?
Tim Robbins will be hosting a talkback session after both performances (Tuesday, September 8 and Wednesday, September 9, performances begin at 7:30). If you’re new to Modlin talkbacks, you’ll enjoy a casual session in which Robbins answers questions from the audience and expounds sagely upon the spectacle you have just experienced. Tickets can and should be purchased online at or at the Modlin Center box office. The performance will take place at the Alice Jepson Theatre.
But wait! Thanks to the nice folks over at the Modlin Center, we’ve got two pairs of tickets to give away for Tuesday’s performance AND two pairs to give away for Wednesday’s performance. That’s eight tickets total! Go here to enter. The contest goes until noon on Friday.
*The other lingering effect is that I still bark out “YOU MUST BE PRECISE” sometimes, with the aim of making my unfortunate, imprecise comrades jump in their seats.
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Susan Howson
Susan Howson is managing editor for this very website. She writes THE BEST bios.
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Oh, to find a way to focus the nation against the Afgan war.
The PenagObama govt has the sheep asleep.
We need a creative way to resist this blood stupid Afgan war.
Making a film about the Catonsville 9 was a great idea. How can I promote it?
Film is a revolutionary medium.
If one person in each state takes the time to promote this film we can make this Catonsville 9 film popular.
You know the pro war media will suppress it.
I will write a review for my You tube site: paul8kangas.
from david eberhardt- a member of the “baltimore 4”
nice discussion on political theatre last night- 9/16/9 w john kellam- director of c 9 play to b given at u md 9/17 & 18
2 great political offerings lately? we agree: stoppard’s “coast of utopia” and kushner’s “angels in america”
review of wash post on 9/12 (of richmond perf) confirms my o so expert view (i’m a poet) that play is “staid, preachy, sermonic” etc.
a good play has to b exciting- have narrative, have character, and, of dan’s play- and i love dan-(and i know him) it is more a documentary- a let’s have a discussion after sort of play
sermons put me- and everybody- to sleep- and i agree w what is said by the 9!!!
i saw a production- at catonsville! of all places- where the play came to life because there were so many bells and whistles added- there was movies, there was a folk singer, the judge was in a separate rm reading his lines but projected in a huge head behind the action-
more bells and whistles than a touring company can muster-
but tim-and john- and actor’s gang- i’ll b watching the u md event- and hoping- just that- it’s not easy- a play like this is a huge challenge- HUGE
dave in baltimore
an update: thank u Actor’s Gant from Culver City from us in Maryland
re: The Play- “The Trial of the Catonsville 9”
9/17/9- play is given at Univ of MD…panel before hand. Actor’s Gang out of Culver City. A review in the Wash. Post of 9/12 confirms what I have long thought about the play all along- that it is staid, preachy, etc. etc. G tells me no one ever told him the play was boring- and I can imagine why! The play is fine as a teachable moment, a let’s have a discussion afterwards w the audience type of play. It’s a documentary. A good play has to be exciting- hold interest, have narrative, have interesting persons. I mean- a sermon is one thing: I heard plenty of sermons in my youth and they put me asleep. They drove me from the church and I promised not to come back. And I agree w what the 9 say in the play completely!
I see the Actor’s Gang version on 9/17/9. They have actually brought the play to life! Of course- it is not a play- it is a documentary. You know what the end is going to be. I was going to say character should develop in a play- but one of the actors tells me- but we do see how the characters of the 9 develop- from Guatamala to the US, for example. I tell the actors about the C-9 production at the Community College at Catonsville which had a lot of bells and whiles and how I thought- well it can be brought to life. But the Ac tor’s Gang version comes EVEN MORE to life- and why? : the intense acting most of all; also, the music, the pacing; Judge Thompson played by a woman and made to be quite human- she WANTS TO KEEP HER JOB! The 9 know they’re losing their jobs. I find myself hearing the words for the first time and finding them extremely poignant. The recitation of the Lord’s Prayer almost brings me to tears- so simple. There are even moments of humor (although not many). This is the best production I have seen.
John Kellam, the Direct or speaks of a strong Commedia del Arte influence. He has a theory of projection that is a very physical method- it has a name- samurai? suzuki? what? Makes the acting very intense. We go out after the 9/18 performance and I get to talking w Patti Tippo, who plays the clerk and Marjorie Melville. She talks of getting the mannerisms of Marjorie down, or even the accents of the clerk- who refers to the trash baskets as “tresh” baskets (supposedly a Baltimore accent).. I get to thinking- but imitating the exact mannerisms of the person you’re playing may not be so important. The intensity of the acting carries the show regardless of the person being nailed- as George would say- referring to the many actors who have played him. Who cares if they “nail” it- unless the person played is that famous?
I joke w Adele Robbins (Tim Robbins sister- herself arrested for civil disobedience in ‘72) who plays Judge Thompson- “you said a lot of wrong things Judge” and also, “I think I’m going to run away and join an acting troupe”. O the life of an actor- these people HAVE to be open- they have to be creative (they enjoy being on the road because they get paid- in Hollywood- it’s a labor of love). It is so exciting being around them and hearing about their craft, their lives in Hollywood. Not well paid, not glamorous….not at all.
High points of the play: Ms Robbins makes Judge Thompson almost seem sympathetic, play shows Sachs and Thompson most articulate adversaries-Darst makes the quip which brings laughter from the audience: “How could I burn slum properties symbolically?”- to this, one of Sachs better probes,. Darst might better have answered the question- “Do you think slum properties have no right to exist?” of Sachs by saying- “Under capitalism, slum properties are a bad thing. But they do belong to the slum lord- are his bread and butter. Besides, there are people living in them. Ideally, you might consider burning them- they certainly burned them in the ’68 riots.” One has to think fast on one’s feet in a trial (one of the reasons I dropped out, or rather ws never in- I wasn’t invited). Tom Lewis tells the prosecutor- “I’ve got 6 years to think about it”.
Chris Schultz (Tom Lewis), George Ketsios (Tom Melville), Helene and George Mische, Adele Robbins (Judge Thomson), Scott Harris (Phil Berrigan), Dave Eberhardt, Corey Lovett (George Mische), Jon Kellam, Director, either Ethan Kogan (John Hogan) or, I’m not sure, Colin Golden (David Darst)
Over the years I learned more and more of the details of the Catonsville 9 action- as I attended many reunions, and watched the play and discussed same: Brendann Walsh’s rold as driver although an impatient Phil took the keys and drove- at least on the way out (Phil rode back in a paddy wagon!); Dean Pappas’ role as phone liason, Willa Walsh and Marilyn O’Connor’s role as press release distributors, why George’s pants ripped, how Mary Moylan held the phone button down so that the clerks could not call out, how Dave Darst was look out, how Dan B filled the baskets, the fact that it took a long time for the police to come- they could have all walked away, easily! The 9 were actually tried by the state as well as the feds- although any sentences (were there any?) were run concurrent.