Thomas Jefferson is raised from the crypt to provide legal counsel to Jose Padilla in director Ramon Florez's ambitious, trilingual play, "The Peculiar Case of Jose Padilla."
In reality, Jose Padilla's case has not been argued before a jury. Padilla is being held for plotting to detonate a radiological bomb in the United States, and the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide if Padilla's detention is constitutional this summer.
In English, Spanish and Arabic, Florez, who is creative director of La Compania de Teatro de Albuquerque, interweaves modern historic events and famous figures in a critique on the Bush administration's detention of Padilla, the Iraq invasion and the war on terror. Though a work in progress and still rough around the edges, the play effectively challenges both U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and al Qaeda's fanaticism.
Setting its frequently informative tone, the play opens with a projected image of the 5th and 6th Amendments of the Constitution, while Maria, played by Estella Vigil, explains their role in protecting citizens' rights with due process. Next, the imprisoned Padilla, played by Legene Jaramillo, prostrates himself in prayer, appealing to Allah to send him a sign. Thomas Jefferson, played by William Sommerville, appears from the crypt and for the rest of the play, represents Padilla pro bono.
Florez, who also wrote the play, said he chose Jefferson to represent Padilla because Jefferson had had a rich experience in fighting detentions without trial or representation in the early republic.
"In his (Jefferson's) lifetime, laws very similar to the Patriot Act and even worse were passed, and he fought against them," he said, referring to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed in 1798.
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Jefferson is transported to Osama bin Laden's hideout on the Afghan/Pakistani border where bin Laden, played by John Coggin, testifies that he does not know "Abdullah al-Muhajir" (Padilla's Arabic name), then launches into a lengthy and detailed defense of al Qaeda's means and objectives.
When bin Laden's testimony is interrupted by Fatima, played by Maha Charani, the play's other theme is introduced. Through Fatima and other characters, the play contrasts extremist Islamic trends, embodied in bin Laden, with progressive Islamic values, primarily reflected in Fatima.
Fatima challenges bin Laden's justification for killing American Muslims in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 by arguing that "since the time of the prophet, Islamic policy has been consistent: You do not target civilians, crops, livestock or property; you respect the rights of prisoners of war; always favor peaceful means to resolve conflicts."
But bin Laden insists, "American civilians are legitimate targets because the United States is a democracy, and the American voters consistently choose leaders who make war on the Muslim world." Fatima goes on to argue that U.S. media manipulate voters' perceptions of the Middle East, therefore they should not be targeted for their leaders' immoral foreign policy.
In this way, much of the play attempts to correct misconceptions about Islam, U.S. Mideast policy and terrorism. When Jefferson refers to Jihad as a holy war, bin Laden corrects: "Jihad is rooted in the concepts of striving, of struggling to create the moral, just and egalitarian society demanded by God."
UNM Arabic Professor Muhamed Ali plays Ali al-Mansuri, a Jordanian who crosses into Iraq to fight the insurgency. The character does this against the pleas of his sister Fatima, who is really the primary voice of reason in the play. She asks him to remain in Jordan and continue the Jihad for democracy and justice. Ali and Fatima are meant to represent a sample of Muslim responses to the Iraq war and occupation.
Florez said Padilla's secret detention at the U.S. Navy brig in South Carolina is an assertion of executive power and a demonstration that anti-democratic tendencies in the U.S. government want the exclusive right, regardless of what the public wants, to determine the status of suspected terrorists.
In the end, Jefferson argues before the U.S. Supreme Court that secret detentions, without the due-process rights guaranteed in the Constitution, are indeed unconstitutional, and Padilla must either be brought to trial or released.
In raising the major questions and debates about America's role in the Islamic world, "The Peculiar Case of Jose Padilla" succeeds in presenting a variety of important challenges to conventional wisdom.
What: "The Peculiar Case of Jose Padilla"
When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.
Where: South Broadway Cultural Center, 1025 Broadway Blvd.
Price: $12 Adults, $8 Seniors and Students, $7 Children
Ticket Info: 848-1323
