Fortunately for theater-goers, if unfortunately for the country, 1970s play “Getting Out,” about a woman just released from prison, is entirely relevant and moving today. The odds against making it on the outside after serving time are as bleak as ever.
The struggle of a woman who has known only abuse, who has no job skills and must choose between her old ways and trying to chart a “normal” life, is an intense, harrowing journey.
* * * ½ drama
Clearly, the path to redemption is uncertain.
Arlene (Missy Moore) is surrounded by jailers inside and out. Her lecherous former prison guard Bennie (Robert Michael Sanders), her pimp Carl (Kent Randell), and her unfeeling mother (Erica Sarzin-Borillo) are the least of it. Arlene is also haunted by her former self, Arlie (Xandra Prestia-Turner), a hellion as a youth and in the joint, clashing with her keepers. She is violent and unruly, hateful and seemingly unredeemable.
Inside, Arlie’s only source of hope is the prison chaplin, who has given her a Bible and a picture of Jesus. The theme of resurrection runs through the play, with Jesus on the wall at center stage and a three-day transformation of self-destructing Arlie seemingly giving new life to Arlene.
On the outside, Ruby (Kelly Uhlenhopp), the kind upstairs neighbor who runs interference for Arlene, may be heaven-sent to keep her on a righteous path.
The engaging set features the cell holding Arlie behind bars above the dilapidated Kentucky apartment where Arlene comes to live upon release. The prison bars from above carry through to serve as the bars on Arlene’s apartment window below. The sense of self-imprisonment is clear.
Where Arlie is all wild-haired screeching and screaming, Arlene is repressed, with tightly restrained hair and a drab dress. The casting is terrific: Moore is a marvel, convincingly damaged yet steely. Prestia-Turner is hyperactive and ear-piercing as Arlie. Sarzin-Borillo is frighteningly credible as the broken and abusive mother. Sanders manages to come across as both pathetic and scary as Bennie. Randell is perfectly oleaginous as Carl.
The two versions of Arlie/Arlene intersect, the actors even speak shared lines. As young Arlie invades Arlene’s memories, the audience begins to appreciate how one turned into the other.
The fine two-act production, skillfully directed by Rick Yaconis, doesn’t make for an easy night of theater but it is more than that: tragically timely and successfully transporting.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
