Sr. Helen Prejean Visits Mayfield Senior School in Preparation for Dead Man Walking Production

This spring, Mayfield Senior School Theatre and Theatre Tech Conservatories will present Dead Man Walking, a play by Tim Robbins based on the book by Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ. As a part of the Dead Man Walking School Theater Project, Sr. Helen visited Mayfield Senior School on February 14 to discuss with the entire student body the complicated issue of the death penalty. She spoke with individual classes on topics specific to their course materials, had lunch with the Conservatories which will be working intimately with her story, and spoke to the entire student body at a school assembly. She emphasized in her assembly presentation the complexities of humanity that make the death penalty issue such a difficult one to face, and told her own story about being asked to correspond with an inmate on death row in Louisiana, which catapulted her into a journey of advocacy against the death penalty.

Sr. Helen’s book, Dead Man Walking, was made into a film by Tim Robbins in 1995, which was nominated for four academy awards that year. After the release of the film, Robbins turned the screenplay into a script for theater, and the decision was made to open the play to youth across the country. The Dead Man Walking School Theater Project involves not just theater at the colleges, universities and high schools where it is performed: the entire campus is asked to join discourse about the issues surrounding the death penalty. Included in the requirements for participation are involvement of at least two academic departments on campus, as well as no corporate gain from the play.

The Mayfield Senior School Theatre and Theatre Tech Conservatories will present the play Dead Man Walking March 15-17, 2013. Mayfield will be using an all-female script, and all roles have currently been cast.

Mayfield Senior School, 500 Bellefontaine Street, Pasadena, (626) 799-9121 ext. 233 or visit www.mayfieldsenior.org