About the Show

Part of FringeNYC: A poet and her principles collide with a policeman's sense of justice when Mac, whose life is books and ideas, falls in love with Jab, a detective enraged at a killer's cold indifference.

Categories: Drama, Local. From Michael Palmer and 11 West Productions. Written by John Doble. Directed by Alberto Bonilla.

FROM THE ARTIST:
TO PROTECT THE POETS is a full-length drama about a poet and her principles colliding with a policeman’s sense of justice. Mac, whose life is books and ideas, falls in love with Jab, a detective enraged at a killer’s cold indifference to his vicious murder of a young woman. When Mac learns that Jab, in his outrage, delivered what he calls street justice, she must decide whether to hold on to her love or the ideals she’s lived by. Will Mac and Jab be star-crossed or will love conquer all?

The cast features: Elizabeth Alice Murray* (Amelia, Othello), John Isgro*, Angel Dillemuth*, Joy Donze* (Juliet, R&J), Ariel Kim (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Jamil A.C. Mangan* (Mother Courage and her Children, Classic Stage Company), and Deshawn Wyatte.

*These Actors are appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association. TO PROTECT THE POETS is an Equity Approved Showcase.

Critic Reviews (6)

"'To Protect the Poets' is halfway there. When Doble focuses on the romantic longings of a lonely police detective and his equally shy and awkward girlfriend his play is touching and entertaining...But scenes involving a rapist-killer’s heartless crime, and the cop’s impassioned but lawless reaction to it, play like a first draft of a middling 'Law & Order' episode; the zingers are often vulgar and seldom very funny, and the dialogue rings false...The play is far better at love than at murder."
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"'To Protect the Poets' shows how readily lines can be crossed when 'street justice' is employed, instead of the judicial system. This first-rate, timely and intelligent play is a just representation of how two people who love each other deal with violent crimes against women and police brutality."
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"Playwright John Doble pursues ethical questions with admirable zeal...The production, efficiently directed by Bonilla, includes a few sequences of believable emotion, which may be credited primarily to the sensitive, well-calibrated performances...But those moments are frequently undercut by dialogue riddled with movie-of-the-week banalities...Doble is fortunate in his cast and director; but, with or without this particular group of performers, the play deserves further work and a future life."
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“John Doble’s characters are masterfully written...Never does a character’s growth or change read as a deliberate writer’s choice, but instead as an inevitable consequence of the circumstances. The latter is obviously helped both by Alberto Bonilla’s clean and sharp direction and by having the text be supported by a stellar cast. Each cast member brings something unique; their talents play a major part in creating the intrinsically layered world in which this story takes place.”
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“It's part police procedural and part '90s sitcom that never really intertwines. It causes tonal confusion on the part of Doble and director Alberto Bonilla...Isgro and Murray are two very different actors. With their chemistry lacking, ‘The Poets’ never was really ever able to take off…‘The Poets’ has a message we have heard far too often. But the execution of said message was a bit amiss. In a sea of politically driven pieces, ‘To Protect the Poets’ sadly sinks.”
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“A play about the ethical dilemma of whether we are ever justified to take justice into our own hands...The play manages to explore a painful, heart-wrenching topic (violent rape and homicide), followed by long moral questioning and all this heaviness was balanced wit laughter and moments of true emotion...If you enjoy grappling with moral dilemmas, and if you want to see a modern rendition of Romeo and Juliet then ‘To Protect the Poets’ may just be what you’re looking for.”
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