“Never the Sinner,” April 24 through 27

Thursday, April 24, through Sunday, April 27

Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre, 500 Belmont Road, Bettendorf IA

Deemed "an excellent and compelling play" by the New York Post and "brilliant, powerful, and cinematic" by the Associated Press, Tony Award winner John Logan's dramatic thriller Never the Sinner enjoys an April 24 through 27 staging by the theatre talents at Scott Community College, this tale of the infamous Leopold & Loeb killing hailed by the New Yorker as a work that "sweeps the audience into the boys' friendship without losing sight of the brutal murder."

In Chicago, on May 21, 1924, Nathan Leopold Jr., age 18, and Robert Loeb, age 19, killed 14-year-old Bobby Franks. They were quickly apprehended when Leopold’s glasses were found near the corpse, state's attorney Robert Crowe was assigned to prosecute, and revered defense attorney Clarence Darrow defended them, pleading eloquently against capital punishment. But why would wealthy young men murder an innocent boy? What demons lurked behind Loeb’s flashy good looks and Leopold’s saturnine intellect? Logan's off-Broadway hit Never the Sinner consequently explores the complex relationship between the two men who longed to create a private world of fevered intellect and romantic passion. In this thrilling stage work, the playwright suggests that, given twists of fate and character, Leopold or Loeb could be anyone who has loved too much, had a broken heart, wanted to prove everlasting devotion, or looked at a loved one and thought, “I’d die for you ... and I’d kill for you.”

Directing Never the Sinner is SCC theatre instructor Kevin Babbitt, whose previous works for his department have included Five of Ives, The Real Inspector Hound, Greater Tuna, and The Laramie Project. Babbitt's on-stage area-theatre appearances, meanwhile, include roles in the Richmond Hill Barn Theatre's Over the River & Through the Woods, Outside Mullingar, and The 39 Steps, as well as the Playcrafters Barn Theatre's On Golden Pond and Tuesdays with Morrie. Among Babbitt's gifted student actors, Leopold and Loeb are respectively portrayed by Perin David McGrath and Alexander Shoemaker, with Jace Mathenia playing Darrow, Eli DeZarn as Crowe, and the ensemble of MJ Kernan, River Smith, and Dustin Levsen enacting numerous roles between them.

Never the Sinner will be staged in Scott Community College's Black Box Theatre (in downstairs Room #1021 through Door 3) from April 24 through 27, with performances on Thursday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and Friday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door, and more information is available by calling (563)441-4339 or e-mailing director Kevin Babbitt at KDBabbitt@eicc.edu.