The Angelina Project

It's not a documentary or a kitchen sink soap opera about victims. But it is a play about how abuse travels from one generation to another, about how prejudice can destroy a family, and about the secrets and lies that shape you forever, even when you don't realize it. The Angelina Project is based on an actual event. In 1911 Angelina Napolitano, an Italian immigrant, killed her abusive husband as he lay asleep on easter Sunday. Within a month she was on trial -- which lasted a single morning. Condemned to hang, her sentence was deferred until she gave birth to her fifth child. A reprieve saved her life, but she spent 11 years in jail. What happened to her and her children after that? Frank Canino creates an imaginative conjecture about the next three generations of her family. Along the way, he explores issues of abuse, violence, prejudice and media hype.