Courage of convictions

'The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,' presented by Cinnabar's Teen Acting Ensemble, is based on historical events, a serious drama that has great relevance today

March 2, 2005

By KATIE WATTS
ARGUS-COURIER STAFF

"It's very cool," said director Nancy Prebilich about the upcoming performance by Cinnabar's Teen Acting Ensemble, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail."

"It's about a president who went to war without Congress declaring war. He didn't necessarily lie to the people, he just didn't tell them the whole truth about why he was going to war."

Sound familiar?

Think again. The year is 1852, the president is James Polk and the war is the Mexican-American War.

"If the law is of such a nature that it requires you to be an agent of injustice to another, then I say break the law," author, poet and philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote in 1849.

Three years later, wrote Jerome Lawrence and Robert Lee, authors of the play, "Thoreau put his beliefs into action and refused to pay taxes because of the United States government's involvement in the Mexican War, which Thoreau firmly believed was unjust. For his daring and unprecedented act of protest, he was thrown in jail."

Prebilich said the timeliness of the play was what drew her. "I think it's important for young people to understand the power, as well as the isolation and solitude that the rebel, the person who goes against society, feels."

Thoreau was such an influential, historic person, "but he was isolated by his own ideals. Yet, here we are, over 100 years later and he's still way ahead of our time."

The play is not easy for adults to do, let alone youth between 10 and 18, warned Prebilich's co-director, Rick Eldredge. But they've taken it on and if an early dress rehearsal is any indication, are working hard to communicate and share the play with their audiences.

Her young actors are learning so much, Prebilich said. By performing a deeply serious play, they don't have the comfort of being able to fall back on comic lines, a song or a dance. "In terms of acting it makes it super-challenging. "Furthermore, in addition to the acting, the students are learning social and political history, talking about transcendentalism, and exploring philosophical concepts and thought.

Also, she said, it's important that her cast, which ranges in age from 10 to 18, understands that "if you're old enough to vote, and old enough to die for your country, you're old enough to start thinking about this."

The play's text contains an actual denunciation of the war, made by a young Whig congressman who was not re-elected because of his unpopular beliefs. The young man persevered in politics, however, and later became the first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln.

(Contact Katie Watts at kwatts@arguscourier.com)

THE NIGHT THOREAU SPENT IN JAIL

What: Drama performed by Cinnabar's Teen Acting Ensemble

When: 7:30 p.m. March 4, 5, 11 and 12; 2 p.m. March 6 and 13

Where: Cinnabar Theater, 3333 Petaluma Blvd. North

Cost: $12 general, $8 children 12 and under

Tickets: 763-8920