by Alan R. Hall

When Karen Hesse wrote her novel, Witness, she based it on our own country’s history: the tumultuous century after the Civil War that brought Blacks and Immigrants to a place where they were judged by a society run, until that time, solely by the White Male. Many of those white males, seeing that the numbers of these “outsiders” were growing to a point where they could not be ignored, panicked; if they could not be controlled, then more drastic steps would have to be taken.

Thus, in the very early years of the 20th century, the influence of the Ku Klux Klan began to make itself felt in every corner of the country. Whereas many believe that the Klan is a Southern-based entity, the efforts of the KKK were felt all over the land — not just in the South; but even, as Hesse tells us, in the small New England town of Revelation Falls, Vermont. The number of people living in Revelation Falls was only around 1,600; but it was 1924, and the railroads were running, and the telephone poles ran lines through the town, and all seemed right with the world — at least, for the most part.

The Justice Theater Project staged John Urquhart’s dramatization of Karen Hesse’s novel this past weekend. This stage adaptation of Witness, adapted for grades 4 thru 7, brings the town of Revelation Falls to life with only a few separate, if detailed, stage pieces. Centrally located is the town’s General Store, run by Harvey and Viola Pettibone (Michael Keough and Carnessa Ottelin). Directly across from the store is the Train Station. Scattered about the remaining areas of the stage are the homes of Sara Chickering (Jennifer Scott McNair), a farmer; Mr. Field (John Honeycutt), a retired carpenter who now paints; the offices of the town newspaper, run by editor Reynard Alexander (Greg Paul); and a center area which represents, among other things, the church, run by preacher Johnny Reeves (Jim Moscater); the backyard of a young black girl in town, Leanora Sutter (Lucinda Harris), and her father; and a glade near the town where young lovers might tryst.

Leanora is the butt of many a joke and many a racial slur, being the only young person of color in Revelation Falls; but it is the arrival of a family of immigrant Jews in the town that really seems to stir everybody up. After coming in and staying for the summer as boarders at Miz Chickering’s farmhouse, the widowed Ira Hirsch (Al Singer) and his young daughter, Esther (Claire Wilson), decide — actually, it was Esther who decided — to move to Revelation Falls, where Ira opens a shoe store. There are those in town who think it is a travesty, none more than storekeeper Harvey, who has already, more than once, insisted to his wife Viola that the arrival of the Klan in Revelation Falls is worthy of note, and that they should join.

The rest of the cast watch everything that goes on in town or out; each character watches the action no matter where it takes place onstage. These are just folks, found in any town: Willie (Kevin Zeph), the son of the Pettibones; a school-chum of his and a “bad seed,” Merlin (Jim Zervas); their schoolteacher, Olive Harvey (Debra Zumbach Grannan); Mary Thibault, Merlin’s girlfriend (Rebecca Nerz); and Doris Hook (Kristen Killmer), also of high school age, who works in the Pettibones’ store.

From the beginning, Constable “Percy” Johnson is investigating a shooting. Someone used a rifle to shoot through the keyhole of Sara Chickering’s front door and was lucky enough to hit someone; since time runs rather less than linearly in this show, we do not learn who was hit right away. And even though we see that whoever shot that rifle was a Klansman, the only Klan we see are townsfolk who have joined; we never see another soul. What this play gives us, then, is a sort of horror dropped into a place alien to it, a sort of Native Son Meets Our Town. The result is shockingly direct and amazingly subtle. The fact that schoolmarm Olive Harvey joins the Klan auxiliary is in itself shocking to us, especially since she seems such a gentle soul.

We are faced, therefore, with what the town has become: split, with those who believe the Klan on one side and those who believe their own consciences on the other. In time — and it seems a very long time — the Klan is forced out, but not before there is assault, death, and even attempted murder. The shooting is never solved, at least as far as Revelation Falls is concerned — only we learn the truth in a split-second that might get lost to some viewers. But it is the one thing in this show that doesn’t surprise us. Hate, bigotry, and brutality, in a place that Our Town has come to represent, does shock and surprise us; it is a place that we would never believe such a thing could happen. And that, of course, is the whole point.

The Justice Theater Project presents Witness Friday, Feb. 25, at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, Feb. 26, at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, Feb. 27, at 2 p.m. in the Cardinal Gibbons High School Performing Arts Theater, 1401 Edwards Mill Rd., Raleigh, North Carolina. $15 ($10 students, seniors, and military personnel). 919/845-7386. Note: On Feb. 27th, theologian Stanley Hauerwas will speak on how faith-filled people should respond to hatred and violence at the JTP’s February Community Forum, starting at 7 p.m., at the Catholic Community of St. Francis of Assisi (http://www.sfaraleigh.org/SFA/Home/), 11401 Leesville Rd., Raleigh, NC. The Justice Theater Project: http://www.thejusticetheaterproject.org/ns/index.php [inactive 4/05].