Review: The Castle -- Real Stories About Lives Turned Around

By Lauren Yarger
On the off-Broadway stage at New World Stages, the stories of lives out of control, prison and drug abuse are harrowing. The drama and emotions are palpable, but this isn’t a performance. For the four “actors,” this is reality—or was, until they found hope at “The Castle.”

Angel Ramos, Vilma Ortiz Donovan, Kenneth Harrigan and Casimiro Torres share their stories every Saturday at 5 pm in a 90-minute presentation conceived and directed by David Rothenberg. Their four voices represent more than 70 years in prison and a plea to help those still inside who want to turn their lives around.

Ramos served more than 30 years in prison. He carried “a lot of baggage and none of it made by Samsonite.” His father had been a ladies’ man and a numbers runner. When Ramos and his family were left homeless after a fire, they moved in with his mother’s boyfriend. He thought this was all part of a normal childhood. He became involved with drugs and was sent to prison after killing a friend.

Donovan struggled with low self esteem and made many poor choices. She used and sold drugs and would cry herself to sleep at night begging God to help her, but then would get up and repeat the same poor choices the next day. She finally realized she needed to change something when she woke up after a 15-hour time lapse with money and drugs in her pockets, but no memory of what she had done to get them.

Harrington was a good student from a loving family and enjoyed music. He excelled at basketball and was offered a college scholarship, but enjoyed “cooler” activities that involved drugs. He turned down a basketball scholarship, ironically because the college was in the town where his older brother had been in prison and it frightened him.

Torres’ home was where all of the junkies in his neighborhood hung out. At 6, he and his brother were placed in state care. He was in and out (many times running away from) those facilities, where he experienced “every kind of abuse” possible including being made to fight in “cock fight” settings with other children where people bet on the winner. He turned to drugs to ease his pain.

Sitting on stools with music stands holding their scripts, the actors deliver their stories intermingled, with each telling a portion, then yielding the stage to the next. Though all different, the narratives have two common themes: the system doesn’t work and the only reason they have been able to turn their lives around (and become taxpayers, as they all joyfully declare) is through the work of The Castle, a nickname for the Fortune Academy, which provides housing and other services to homeless former prisoners trying to re-enter society.

All four now are living testimonies of what positive change can do and are involved in trying to help others coming behind them.

For tickets, call 212-239-6200 or visit New World Stage’s box office at 340 W. 50th St., NY. For more information about the Fortune Society, go to http://www.fortunesociety.org.

Christians might also like to know:
• Harrigan speaks eloquently about his faith in Jesus Christ, which helped him get through his 12 years in prison. “I don’t know how people (in prison) survive without it.”
• Ramos also speaks about his faith and the helping hand extended to him by the Quakers.
• A $10 donation can cover the cost to bring an at-risk youth to see the show. Donations may be mailed to EKTM/The Castle, 155 W. 46th St., 3rd Floor, New York, NY 10036 or by calling 212-976-7079.