The Justice Theatre Project's 
Production
of
John Steinbeck's
"The Grapes of Wrath"
August/September 2007
Raleigh, NC

Unfortunately, photos are not currently available. But.... if you'd like to read the REVIEW..... 

Here's what a local Theater Critic had to say about the play:

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REVIEW BY ROBERT W. McDOWELL
The CVNC Performing Arts Journal
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FRANK GALATI'S STAGE ADAPTATION "THE GRAPES OF WRATH" 
MAKES THE PLIGHT OF MIGRANT WORKERS PALPABLE

                 Last weekend, the Raleigh, NC-based Justice Theater Project began its ambitious yearlong exploration of the plight of migrant workers on a high note with a provocative presentation of Frank Galati's Tony Award-winning new adaptation of John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning 1939 novel, THE GRAPES OF WRATH. This epic production, under the able direction of Thomas Mauney, will conclude its two-week run Aug. 31-Sept. 2 in the Cardinal Gibbons High School Performing Arts Center, across Edwards Mill Road from the RBC Center.
 
                Mauney stages the Joad family's eventful 1938 journey from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression with lots of snap, crackle, and pop. Many members of the HUGE cast that plays the Joads, their friends, and their adversaries do not have the experience and stage presence to bring their characters fully to life, but the core cast does.
 
                Sean A. Brosnahan gives a memorable performance as Tom Joad, an amiable but hot-tempered ex-con breaking parole to accompany his Okie parents and siblings and a few friends from the Dust Bowl to California, where rampant exploitation of itinerant workers by big corporate farmers quickly brings Tom's famous temper to the boiling point. Kevin Ferguson is quite good as former preacher Jim Casy, who has lost his faith but not his ideals; and Susannah Hough and Geof Shuford add personable portrayals of Ma Joad and Pa Joad.
 
                John Honeycutt is a pip as Grandpa Joad, and Larry Evans makes alcoholic Uncle John Joad's sensitivity palpable. (When the going gets tough, Uncle John goes on a bender.)
 
                Dawn Gum and Jaclyn Amanna are a bit bland as Grandma Joad and Rose of Sharon, respectively; but John T. Hall, Jim Sullivan, Rod Rich, and Collette Rutherford contribute vivid cameo performances: Hall as a haughty farm contractor recruiting cheap labor with lofty promises that he never intends to keep; Sullivan as a furtive Joad family friend who stays behind when the bank forecloses his and his neighbors' farms; Rich as the poor, befuddled Mayor of Hooverville, furtively wandering that shanty town, lost in his delusions; and Rutherford as a spiteful neighbor of the Joads at the Hooper Ranch. Rutherford and Jordan Smith also provide some expressive voiceover commentary.
 
                Director Thomas Mauney, who doubles as lighting designer for THE GRAPES OF WRATH, sustain the show's dramatic momentum for its nearly three-hour running time despite numerous reconfigurations of scenic designer Miyuki Su's sprawling set and his own atmospheric lighting, which sometimes is too dark for the audience to follow the action. Given the colossal challenge of clothing this figurative cast of thousands in authentic 1930s duds, LeGrande Smith scores major points and lays claim to the title of costume designer of the year.
 
                Although it has more than a few rough edges, The Justice Theater Project's stirring presentation of THE GRAPES OF WRATH deserves a large audience. Frank Galati's script captures the essence of the Okies' Diaspora and their cruel treatment in California vineyards and orchards, where they labored for pennies a day, living in unspeakable squalor and unable to work their way out of poverty.'

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