Photo courtesy of George Sapio SENIOR JONATHON EVANS AND GARY WEISSBROT star in Bruce Graham’s “Coyote on a Fence.” The play, about a man on death row, had a monthlong run at the Firehouse Theatre.

In a time when the nation has been confronted with a huge loss of innocent life, certain issues we once found important, like the death penalty, may fade into the background. Nevertheless, the question of justice versus revenge is more important now than ever before. Bruce Graham’s “Coyote on a Fence,” at the Firehouse Theatre Saturday, focused on related issues, including the value imposed on one life over another and the subjectivity of guilt and innocence.

Director Heather Forsythe, a veteran Firehouse actor, skillfully steered the production to a level of poignant significance. Scenic designer Sarah Schetter admirably managed to cram four distinct settings into the tiny space. The original score by George Larsen was moving, while the newly revived art of lighting at the Firehouse delighted audiences and actors alike.

The play opens with a prisoner, John Brennan (Gary Weissbrot), reading aloud from his correspondence. He edits the Death Row Advocate, a paper describing the quality of life on the inside, most noted for its humanitarian obituaries. Brennan tries to make outsiders see the condemned as he sees them, deliberately omitting the crimes for which they were killed.

Sam Fried (George Sapio) represents the outside world as a reporter for The New York Times. He wants to pick Brennan’s brain to get the inside scoop on Death Row. Brennan is reluctant but finally relents.

The true source of the play’s action is Bobby Reyburn (senior Jonathan Evans), an enthusiastic, simple-minded neo-Nazi. He moves into the cell next to Brennan’s after six years in solitary confinement. The two slowly build a friendship. Bobby’s perpetual good mood and refusal to appeal his case continually frustrate John.

Prison guard Shawna DuChamps (Leslyn McBean) listens to Bobby’s racist rants, shooting them down before they have a chance to really get going. McBean played DuChamps with an emotional depth and complexity that struck the hearts of the audience. Though DuChamps pretends not to be affected by life on the Row, it is easy to see that her work really does effect her.

Evans filled his difficult character with a bright simplicity, endearing himself to the audience despite his loudly declared Aryan philosophy. Weissbrot’s Brennan is more a brooding intellectual than a violent criminal, which made his few outbursts all the more shocking. Sapio’s Fried had an appropriately smooth and detached demeanor.

The production received much community support, from groups like Amnesty International and Ithaca College’s Diversity Awareness Committee and Interfaith Council. Also offered was a public forum on the death penalty and a talk by anti-death penalty activist David Kaczynski, brother of the Unabomber.