TRIAL performs in the intimate Beckmann Theater at the American Theatre of Actors, located at 314 West 54th Street, (between 8th and 9th ave) on the 2nd Floor, New York, NY.

Tickets are General Admission. Limited standing room tickets are available at the door when there is a full house.

The theater is handicap accessible, and the theater is accessible by elevator.

Runtime: 90 minutes, no intermission

Directed by Lori Petty in her New York debut, Trial opens with a young woman in a stark white room, who is overly enthusiastic when another woman briefly joins her before being whisked away to meet with some unseen “management”. It turns out the white room is the waiting area in the afterlife for souls to await trial, and the young woman, named Arcadia (played by award-winning playwright Ashley Griffin), has been there for 12 years, ever since she died at age 15. An otherworldly lawyer named Valentine (Ryan Clardy) enters the room and tells Arcadia that, while her case is not yet up for review, there has been an unusual occurrence which requires her attention: she has the opportunity to be the judge and jury for the man directly responsible for her death. “Indirectly,” corrects Arcadia. And, with that word, she releases an iota of blame from the man, who is her father Richard (Malcolm Stephenson), who physically and sexually abused her from a very young age in circumstances that led to her untimely demise. Ashley Griffin’s Trial shows how trapped a young person can feel when her father is repeatedly harming her and the grown-ups that all children are urged to tell do nothing to hel …Read more