Execution of Justice

San Francisco, CA. November 1978. Former City Supervisor Dan White (ex-cop, ex-firefighter, working class hero and all-American boy) calmly loaded his gun, entered City Hall through an open basement window, and proceeded upstairs to assasinate progressive Mayor George Moscone (a supporter of gay rights), and Supervisor Harvey Milk (the first openly gay politician ever elected to high office), killing each with multiple shots fired at point blank range.

The verdict was sensational – Dan White was convicted of manslaughter rather than first-degree murder and sentenced to just seven years in prison.

Nearly 30 years after the assasinations, playwright Emily Mann, director Gary Griffin and About Face Theatre re-visit Mann’s landmark play to re-examine the events that polarized a city and stunned the nation. Drawn from trial transcripts and documentary evidence, Execution of Justice is a mesmerizing, mind-blowing exploration of American society at a crossroads and the widening chasm between progressive ideals and “traditional values.”