THEATRE

The first dramatic reading of civil rights lawyer Michael Meltsner’s searing depiction of how and why the nation found itself brutally treating the men it detained-- some with good reason, some with stunning caprice-- after 9/11. The play confronts the government rationalizations, the bizarre military hearings and the willful blindness of the public to what was happening behind barbed wire. Brendan Shea of the American Repertory Theatre called IN OUR NAME a “living essay” in which the United States actions at Guantanamo are put on trial. “The play’s vibrant and visceral language is a great vehicle …to communicate the complex issues.” The author is well known in the legal world for his representation of hundreds of death row inmates and for the case that restored Mohammad Ali’s right to box.

A post play panel will include:

Stephen Oleskey, a partner at the firm of WilmerHale in Boston, and since 2004 co-lead counsel in the case of Boumediene v. Bush, a federal habeas corpus suit that successfully challenged the imprisonment of six men from Bosnia without charge or trial at Guantanamo Bay. Following the first-ever Guantanamo habeas trial in November 2008, a federal judge ordered five of the six men released immediately. Five of the six have left Guantanamo.

Joshua Rubenstein, involved with human rights and international affairs for more than 35 years as an activist, scholar and journalist He is the Northeast Regional Director of Amnesty International USA. His latest book is Leon Trotsky: A Revolutionary’s Life.

Sabin Willett, a partner at the firm of Bingham McCutchen, led his firm’s team to landmark victories in its representation of Guantanamo prisoners, including the first-ever review of a prisoner’s case under the Detainee Treatment Act and the first-ever habeas judgment ordering prisoners’ immediate release into the United States.

Doris Tennant, of Tennant Lubell, LLC, Newton, Massachusetts, who with her law partner Ellen Lubell, represented a Guantanamo detainee held for long periods in solitary confinement over 8 years until he was forcibly repatriated to Algeria. She specializes in the out of court resolution of divorce and family matters, through collaborative law, mediation, and negotiation.