MsTrial at New World Stages

Dep Kirkland wrote and stars in “MsTrial”. He portrays a high profile attorney who commits sexual assault while drunk. The first act is difficult to follow as he and his colleagues are preparing for a trial, but there is so much legal jargon that it’s difficult to follow. The action does begin to pick up in the second act. In the second act, it is revealed that he raped his female colleague in a drunken celebration after winning their trial. 

Kirkland’s play is relevant to these times, but the first act spends too much time setting up the story. Kirkland is John Paris, a lawyer with his own firm and working under him are his nephew Dan (Alan Trinca) and Karen (Christine Evangelista). They are preparing a difficult high profile case. Act one is all about this trial preparation with glimpses into their dynamic including inappropriate language when talking to and about Karen, which she doesn’t seem to mind though that’s never clarified.

Most of the dialogue comes from the preparation and not the glimpses into these characters and with so much legal talk to process the audience is left trying to figure out the ins and outs of the law rather than getting attached to the characters. The firm wins the case and celebrate at the office late into the night. The second act picks up as Karen packs her things from the office after accusing John of sexual assault. John makes Dan his lawyer and the two team up against Karen to prove John’s innocence. During the initial hearing, John presents evidence that paints Karen in a bad light and while Karen’s lawyer Cathryn (Janie Brookshire) knows the circumstances aren’t Karen’s fault, the evidence would make it difficult for jurors to take her side in an actual trial. At the end of the play, John admits his wrongdoing to his nephew and is genuinely upset by his actions, but there’s no point in admitting it.

John hits on Karen and speaks inappropriately about her from the beginning. Kirkland doesn’t make it clear is Karen is truly okay with this or simply puts up with it in an effort to keep peace in the office. Dan is gay. There’s no reason for Dan to be gay other than to make him a target for jokes from his uncle and for Karen to text his sexuality. Trinca is fantastic in the role and is able to capture the conflict of being caught in the middle of his uncle and his friend. Evangelista also does a great job as Karen skillfully showing her disgust and anguish at being told she wanted to have sex with John.

The play starts off with a slow start, and while it does get better in the second half, it’s difficult to fully get back into the play after intermission. The scenic design cleverly takes us from the legal office to a cold room in a courthouse.