#99-04-21
For Release: April 27, 1999
Contact: Peter Bailley


Knox Theatre Professor to Discuss Construction
of Key Exhibit in Landmark Lawsuit

Photo: Knox theatre professor Craig Choma.
Link to 400K jpeg photo.     
Craig Choma, assistant professor of theatre at Knox College, and attorneys Keith Belzer and Michael Devanie of La Crosse, Wisconsin, will present a lecture and exhibit, "Hostage in America," at 4:30 p.m., Friday, May 7, in Ford Center for the Fine Arts on the Knox campus in Galesburg, Illinois. Presented in conjunction with a theatre production about hostages, the exhibit features a full-size replica of a six-by-eight-foot jail cell, constructed by Choma for a recent landmark lawsuit brought by Belzer and Devanie on behalf of a mentally-ill man who was held in solitary confinement for more than two months without treatment.

The man, Scott Lawson, was awarded $5.4 million in March in his lawsuit against the sheriff and jail supervisor in Sparta, Wisconsin. Lawson contended that being held in solitary without treatment had worsened his mental illness. According to the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law in Washington, DC, the jury verdict is the largest damage award in US history for a jail neglecting to provide mental health treatment. Bazelon also featured Choma's replica jail cell at its website, http://bazelon.org/lawson.html

The cell will be on display at Knox from May 5 through May 8, during the presentation of "Two Rooms," a play about a hostage held in the Middle East. "The case that Craig was involved in exposes the misuse of the legal system to lock up persons who need mental health treatment," says the play's director, Elizabeth Carlin Metz, assistant professor of theatre at Knox. "When I selected the play, I had no idea that Craig would be building this model. I'm pleased that the play and the exhibit--which both show the unjust confinement of the powerless--can reinforce each other."

Choma's involvement in the case began last December, in a dinner conversation with Belzer, his half-brother and a public defender in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Belzer was one of several attorneys who worked on a retrial of Lawson's case, after an initial verdict resulted in a token award of only $1 from each of the two defendants. Both Choma and Belzer are Knox graduates and were active in theatre in college.

"Initially Keith was interested in a scale model of the jail, to show the location of the cell. Eventually we decided that I would build a full-size replica of the cell itself," Choma explains. "I view the project as an extension of my theatrical design and construction work," Choma says. "But it's also tremendously satisfying to be able to use theatre skills for justice and the betterment of humanity."

Choma visited the jail in Wisconsin to take photos and measurements used to build the replica. The replica, set up in front of the courtroom during the trial, was accurate to within one inch--acknowledged by the lawyers who represented the two law enforcement officials. "One of the psychiatrists who testified in the case told me that I should consider a career in forensic design, building models used in court that have to meet precise specifications.



Photo: Re-enacting a scene from his lawsuit, Scott Lawson (left) sits in the replica jail cell used as an exhibit in the lawsuit; at right, one of his attorneys.

"It's different from theatre, where you're building to your own specifications," Choma says. "Instead, you have to focus on making it exactly match something else."

The walls of the replica are constructed of foam boards, carved and painted to look like cement blocks. Choma also sculptured foam to recreate the prison-style lavatory. The replica is a "cut-away" design, which allowed the jury to view Lawson, as he demonstrated how he lived for 65 days in solitary. The windowless cell was so dark, Lawson testified, that he had to crouch by a slit in the door to get enough light to read.

Choma has taught at Knox since 1996. After graduating from Knox in 1993, he earned a master's degree in fine arts at Carnegie Mellon University. The Chicago Tribune praised his set designs for the 1997 Chicago production of "The Mill on the Floss," which Metz directed.

Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college, located in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,100 students from 42 states and 33 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

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