The Fear of 13

About the show

Nick Yarris is a death row inmate who, at the start of the play, has been incarcerated in the Huntingdon State Prison for sixteen years. When he meets Jacki, a volunteer with the Western Pennsylvania Coalition Against the Death Penalty, he begins to strike up a friendship with her, in part because he is one of the few inmates who does not harass her when she enters the prison. The two gradually bond over their shared love of literature: having spent most of his days in isolation, Nick has become a voracious reader in order to fill the time. As their relationship grows stronger, Nick regales Jacki with anecdotes from his life, ranging from his misadventures with childhood friends to his 30-day escape to Florida from the custody of county sheriffs, while en route from the Pennsylvania prison to a court hearing. Neither she nor the audience can be sure how many of his stories are true. Nick eventually confides in Jacki that he was wrongfully convicted, a situation that occurred after he erroneously accused a childhood acquaintance of committing the rape and murder of Linda Mae Craig, in an attempt to lighten lesser charges he acquired after a heated encounter with a police officer. Jacki commits to helping Nick overturn his conviction; eventually, the two fall in love. Over the course of several years, the couple attempts to prove Nick's innocence with the emerging technology of DNA profiling, though these efforts are repeatedly thwarted due to the mishandling of evidence. Jacki even marries Nick, thinking he will soon be free. Eventually, however, she decides to leave him, having come to the conclusion that his appeals are hopeless. After this, Nick pens a letter to the assigned judge requesting his execution, but instead his lawyer informs him that new DNA testing has finally exonerated him. In the wake of this news, Nick takes a long shower, which causes him to reflect on the sexual assault he experienced at nine years old, an incident whose traumatic after-effects he believes set him on the tragic path his life took. Once released, Nick delivers a monologue extolling the small pleasures in life and remembering his childhood dog.