About the Show

A solo play recounting Nick Yarris’s decades on death row and his fight for exoneration.

The play traces the true story of Nick Yarris, who spent more than twenty years on death row after being convicted of a murder he maintained he did not commit. Structured around a series of prison visits with a volunteer named Jackie, the narrative follows conversations that move between past actions, present confinement, and the psychological terrain of waiting for execution. As their exchanges deepen, questions of agency, responsibility, and belief come into sharper focus, revealing the fragile boundary between autonomy and survival within the justice system.

The work centers on Nick Yarris, the first person sentenced to death in Pennsylvania to be exonerated through DNA evidence. The production is presented in partnership with the Innocence Project, whose Executive Director, Christina Swarns, served as one of Yarris’s attorneys. Founded in 1992 by Barry C. Scheck and Peter J. Neufeld, the Innocence Project uses DNA testing and investigative work to address wrongful convictions and advance systemic legal reform.

Critic Reviews (17)

"From its opening line, the play is focused on time and how it gets warped, especially behind bars. It’s challenging to convey that on stage in a powerfully visceral way, and in the end, the play is all-tell, no-show, blunting its impact."
Read more

"If I were going to get granular, I’d say that what the adaptation misses is the way that the film documentary touches at times"
Read more

"He [Brody] was, as is the play itself, repeating a good story but not providing deeper insight, giving us a mythology without a deeper sense of a man."
Read more

"With Academy Award winner Adrien Brody and actress Tessa Thompson making their Broadway debuts, the play features some profound performances. However, it also feels tonally bumpy by the end."
Read more

"This show exists in large part to elicit gasps by exposing the brokenness of the criminal justice system — not to make us know, understand and get lost in the life of a fellow human being."
Read more

"The Fear of 13 is also about the way narratives take hold, how once they are officially accepted by authority, it is very hard to undo them—but not impossible."
Read more

"Lindsey Ferrentino's dramatic adaptation aims to convey the full sweep of Yarris' history, but it skimps on the crucial points that would ground it in recognizable reality, often failing to provide crucial context as well as emotional engagement and suspense. The devil is in the details, and here the details are often missing."
Read more

"The extent you get caught up in The Fear of 13 rests largely on how much you get caught up in Adrien Brody's compelling performance."
Read more