Stories from the Fringe: "Fifty Minutes"
By Chad Fasca
What constitutes self-defense and what constitutes murder? After Hours Productions explores the sometimes fine line between these two sides to killing with its presentation of "Fifty Minutes," a drama taken directly from last year's headlines and brought to the New York International Fringe Festival (FringeNYC) stage.
Traveling from Las Vegas to Salt Lake City to visit family, 19-year-old community college student Jonathan Burton boarded Southwest Flight No. 1763 on Aug. 11, 2000. Twenty minutes before landing, the young passenger began pacing the aisles, then freaked out and suddenly charged the cockpit. Several passengers, coming to the crew’s aid, managed to calm the crazed 19-year-old and return him to his seat. According to published reports, Burton was taken to an exit row seat, buckled into the seat and surrounded by male passengers on the flight. Nevertheless, he managed to make a second attempt on the plane, this time, its emergency exit. Five passengers struggled to subdue him. During the altercation, these passengers either went out of control, dragging him out to the middle of the aisle and beating him within hours of his life's end, or mistakenly restrained him in a position that prevented proper breathing and contributed to his death. When the plane landed, the passengers still had him pinned until local police officers arrived. Not knowing what Burton was capable of, the police officers cuffed him, allowing the passengers who restrained him to de-board. They soon discovered Burton was unconscious, though he did have a pulse and showed signs of breathing. He was taken to a hospital, where he was later pronounced dead because of a heart attack.
That's what published reports say about Burton’s death. But with drugs not found to be the cause of his rage and with the passengers providing conflicting accounts of the events on Flight 1763, the truth reminds shrouded in mystery. So what really happened to Jonathan Burton? "Fifty Minutes" dramatized the event to provide clues for what really happened and why. Using real media quotes and real passenger quotes, the play, written by Lucas Rockwood, co-founder of After Hours Productions, recalls the events leading up to, and following, the death of Jonathan Burton.
"It's pretty gritty and original," says director and After Hours co-founder Sherri Kronfeld, referring to Rockwood stage play about the first ever, in-flight homicide in the U.S.
"His mother thought it was a heart attack," she says.
It was only when other relatives remarked about the bruises on Burton's body during the funeral that she began to doubt the veracity of this claim. Investigations into the death have not yield any substantial evidence to suggest cause of the incident. Drugs were believed to be the cause of Burton's rage, but the autopsy results did not support this claim, according to published reports. A passenger asserted that he saw another passenger beating on Burton's chest; however, this man’s own wife did not witness the same thing her husband spoke about. In the end, the U.S. Attorney's Office said it would not prosecute anyone in connection with the Aug. 12 death of Jonathan Burton, the Deseret News reported in September 2000. In December, USA Today reported that Janet Burton, the young man’s mother, was contemplating a lawsuit against Southwest Airlines for failing to protect Jonathan from harm in the same manner that they tried to protect the crew and passengers.
Rockwood's play focuses on the event, the media's spin on the event, and how people in general handle rage.
"A lot of research went into this show," Kornfeld says, adding: "It’s pretty dense with true materials."
In depicting the events leading to Burton's death, "Fifty Minutes" tries to present each person's character's outward actions as well as inner dialogue, both how and why they reacted the way they did, to the audience.
"Their subconscious is very much on display," Kronfeld says.
To achieve this, she has structured some scenes with very tight staging from the cast of six, four men and two women, particularly as the tension builds on the plane. At certain moments, the actors break character and question the audience about their own dealings with rage, such as asking: What would you do, if you were confronted with a situation like that?
Kronfeld says, "It's kind of pushing the edges, which is why we thought the Fringe would be a good venue for it."
Further Reading
USA Today article
