‘Judas’ on trial at Tenth Avenue Performance Annex

By Charlene Baldridge

New York playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis is on the San Diego boards once again, this time thanks to Triad Productions, whose staging of Guirgis’ 2005 off-Broadway play, “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” is the theater company’s most successful to date. Fans of chewy work such as Guirgis’ must not miss the engagement. Of those seen locally, “Judas” is Guirgis’ most engaging and confounding.
In recent years, due mostly to Al Germani’s Lynx Theatre, San Diego theatergoers have seen Guirgis’ “Jesus Hopped the ‘A’ Train,” “In America We’d All Be Kings” and “Our Lady of 121st Street.” The New York Times’ Ben Brantley dubs him the “author of ferociously emotional works,” an appellation that certainly applies to “Judas,” in which he sets up the notorious Biblical betrayer’s trial in purgatory.
Guirgis ordinarily deals with society’s outcasts, and no one is more outcast than Judas, whose very name has become synonymous with evil. One of Jesus Christ’s 12 apostles, Judas ratted on Jesus, divulging his whereabouts to the Romans, paving the way for the crucifixion, which was supported by Jews and Romans alike. Among those who condemned Jesus initially was Pontius Pilate, as played by Merrick McCartha, one of the Guirgis’ most riveting characters, along with Henrietta Iscariot (Anna Rebek), Judas’ mother. Henrietta launches the play with a passionate speech about her reviled son. As portrayed by James Cota and written by Guirgis, Judas is ragged, abused and hopeless for most of the play’s two-and-one-half hours. But this is not a play about Judas, who is so self-defeated and self-condemned that he is unmoved to action even when offered paradise.
Lest one assume that “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” is a heavy slog, be assured that it is extremely funny even though it concerns love and forgiveness — of self, God and others. It is not for the “language” squeamish, nor for those who would cry “Blasphemy!” It is rooted deeply in the nitty-gritty of our multiracial society, the human condition, and our inability to accept a God that loves us, no strings attached. Thus it is a deeply religious, deeply confrontational work, depending upon one’s philosophy and views.
The major characters are prosecuting attorney Yusef El-Fayoumy (Kris Zarif), defending attorney Fabiana Cunningham (Samantha Ginn) and a southern judge named Littlefield (the excellent Charles Peters, who also provides a riveting Caiphas the Elder). Others in the large company are Scott Andrew Amiotte, Brian Burke, Brendan Cavalier, Lynae DePriest, Carolyn Henderson, Patrick Kelly, Kevin Morrison, Sacha Smith and Joseph Tyrer.
Charged with directing this densely-packed play, rife with a confusing array of characters, is Steve Schmitz in his Triad directorial debut. His major error is beginning with a long and uninteresting “warm-up” scene that prevented audience and actors from settling down opening night, Jan. 2. Would that the talent — Ginn and Zarif in particular suffer a decided lack of consonants in their rapid-fire delivery — was consistently as fine as his staging and the effective purgatory created by lighting designer Jason Bieber, scenic designer Kristen Flores and sound coordination/engineering whiz Shaun Rosten. Crispness is a challenge when there is so much to say in so short a time, partly the fault of the playwright and partly the space, but attention needs to be paid to articulation. The challenging piece deserves no less.

“The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” continues at 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and 5 p.m. Sundays through January 30, The Tenth Avenue Performance Annex, 930 10th Ave., downtown, $20 ($10 students and military), www.triadprod.com.

Charlene Baldridge is a member of the San Diego Critics Circle with more than 30 years experience writing about the arts.