Lucasville at FringeNYC

In 1993, an 11-day inmate uprising at Southern Ohio Correctional Facility led to the deaths of one guard and nine inmates, as well as the allegedly false convictions and death sentences of five prisoners, based on what they claim is perjured testimony by informants (this claim has yet to be proved). A new play by Staughton Lynd—who wrote the nonfiction book on which the script is based—and Gary Anderson, Lucasville: The Untold Story of a Prison Uprising, is being staged at this year’s New York International Fringe Festival. “I wrote this story and turned it into a play for two reasons,” Lynd says. “First, the dramatic injustice of the Lucasville trials, and the desire to get these men off death row. Second, since I was in the South in the 1960s I have seen relatively few instances of solidarity between blacks and whites. I have been amazed by the solidarity among these five men—two white, three black—during the past 15 years.” When asked for a reaction to the works, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction had no comment. At right, a few of the Lucasville Five—Siddique Abdullah Hasan, Jason Robb, Namir Abdul Mateen, George W. Skatzes and Keith LaMar—express themselves in their own words and images.

—Billie Cohen

The New York International Fringe Festival runs Aug 8 to 24 (212-279-4488, fringenyc.org)

Hear from the prisoners in their own words »