Defamation Turns Audience into a Jury

Has anyone ever accused you of something that you didn’t do? Did it hurt your reputation to the point where you lost your job and your home?

This allegedly happened to an African-American woman who owns a design firm in the south side of Chicago named Regina Wade. She is now suing her former client, Arthur Golden, for defamation.

Well, not really.

That whole scenario was made up by Todd Logan in a play he calls “Defamation,” which was performed in UW-Milwaukee’s Union Ballroom on Oct. 21.

But this is not an ordinary play. This play incorporates the audience to make a verdict.

Arthur Golden is a Jewish real estate developer who accused Wade of stealing his watch at a business meeting in his home. In turn, Wade’s business went to shambles. She believes the reason for that is because Golden told a lawyer friend of his, another client of Wade’s, about the incident, and Wade believes he told the lawyer that if she continues to work with Wade, then she would lose his business.

For about an hour and a half, the audience was at the edge of its seats as both parties tried to prove their cases in a courtroom like setting using actors. There was a “judge” who polled the jury – in this case, the audience. But the point of the play is not to make it easy for them to decide.

“A case without a smoking gun, DEFAMATION challenges our preconceived notions about race, class, religion and even the law. As audience members and then jurors, we learn as much or more about ourselves as we do the plaintiff and the defendant,” says the official website for the play.

When deliberation time came, the majority of the UW-Milwaukee audience sided with the plaintiff.

According to founder Logan, a playwright and humorist, since its premiere in 2010 and after over 125 shows, the plaintiff has won over 100 of those shows.

After the verdict, the cast opened up the floor for comments and questions from the audience.

Rick Banks, a current UWM student, says he attended the play because he wants to be a lawyer and that the play exceeded his expectations.

At the surface, it seems like the play is solely a he-said-she-said story about a watch and whether or not one’s character was assassinated, but it’s much more than that. “Defamation” is defined to provoke the audience into thinking about race, social class, religion, and the inconsistencies in our judicial system.

Regina’s defense was also that she was accused of stealing the watch because she is black. Golden was adamant that Wade stole the watch because he last saw it in the room she was in. Even after Golden checked Wade’s bag, he still didn’t find the watch. Wade’s lawyer, Lawton tried to make Golden out to be racist by bringing up that he stays in an affluent, all white neighborhood.  Lawton also brought up a time where Golden got into a fight with another man and the police were called. The two fought because Golden believes that Jews should only marry other Jews.

That obviously didn’t help his case.

The rest of the case included witnesses being brought to the stand and cross examinations.

The play will continue to tour throughout November and will start again next February.