Watching The Fear of 13 on Netflix during quarantine, Ferrentino was captivated by Yarris’s account of the decades he spent on death row. “He was able to so theatrically and vibrantly articulate his own experience, and I think a lot of that’s because he spent 22 years in solitary confinement, where his only company was books,” Ferrentino says. “He has this really unique way of speaking, unlike anyone I’ve ever met before, where he’s able to sort of paint these pictures in prose.”
Those pictures include a vivid portrait of the isolation and silence that Yarris filled with reading until he met Jacki, a volunteer with the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty who visited inmates to offer emotional connection and support. Directed by David Cromer and featuring an ensemble cast that performs the roles of Nick’s childhood friends, his fellow inmates, and his legal team, The Fear of 13 offers an unflinching look at America’s system of injustice.
That story resonates differently on Broadway than it did in London, where The Fear of 13 premiered at the Donmar Warehouse in October 2024 (earning Brody an Olivier nomination)—and where the death penalty has been abolished since 1965. “There’s a different level of complicity on the part of the audience, and anger,” Ferrentino says. “The story is new, but it is not new to people. The way that the system is designed is that when people are ‘put away,’ that is both literal and metaphorical, so that you don’t have to think about these stories. But we are all a part of this system. We’re all complicit in living in a country and a culture that creates stories like Nick’s.”
Exploring the complexity of Nick’s character—who was not guilty of the crimes he was imprisoned for but did break the law in other ways—deepens the character’s humanity and emphasizes the ways the system dehumanizes those convicted.
“That character is not a saint,” Cromer says. “He’s not a perfect person. That doesn’t mean he should die on death row. There’s an enormous ambiguity to all of these people.”
Photo: Emilio Madrid
A crucial part of Nick’s story is Jacki. In her Broadway debut, Thompson is also bringing a real person to life onstage, though she’s never met the inspiration for her character because Yarris strove to protect her identity when filming the documentary. Thompson’s performance of Jacki’s journey “from curiosity to compassion,” as she puts it, is inspired by the actress’s personal experiences, which were similar to her character’s: a few years ago, she volunteered to speak on the phone with an inmate. The experience was eye-opening, and the timing of Ferrentino’s play was fortuitous.
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