A child(like) killer By MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer 1/16/2005 Heller Theater's 'Coyote on a Fence' illustrates a murderer's paradox Inmate Bobby Alvin Reyburn is innocent, but not in the way that you're thinking. No, the Aryan racist at the center of playwright Bruce Graham's death row-drama "Coyote on a Fence" is quite proud of being the killer of dozens, many of them children. The character is innocent in that he possesses a certain lack of worldliness. He has a childlike quality to him, as well as the mental capacity of a child. He is, at times, quite lovable, says Frank Gallagher, who directs Heller Theater's production of "Coyote on a Fence," opening Thursday night.

Vanessa Adams and T.J. Bowlin in a scene from Heller Theater’s production “Coyote on a Fence.” JAMES GIBBARD / Tulsa World

"Bobby is the most disturbing character of any production I've ever been associated with," Gallagher said. "He seems so innocent, he's funny, he does animal impressions. But he's a racist and a mass murderer. He's also mentally damaged, and it's difficult for him to think for himself in many ways.

"It's hard to not like Bobby, and yet we're horrified of him. He's very contradictory. It's a paradox."

At the opposite end of that paradox is his new cellmate, an educated political activist who edits a prison newspaper in which he rails against capital punishment and pens the inmates' obituaries.

The play explores the relationship between these two men - one who has accepted his guilt, one who fights his conviction - and it refuses to resort to simplistic solutions with regard to capital punishment, provoking an audience's perceptions of justice and mercy, Gallagher said.

But don't look for a political statement, he says, insisting the play does not present views for and against the death penalty.

Rather, it presents neither side and "deliberately leaves you with a question mark, not an answer," the director said.

"To me, the play is about love and hate, and it's about guilt and innocence, big issues not only on death row but in all our lives," Gallagher said. "Political plays bore the life out of me and I think a lot of other people. You go to a play to see a human situation and how that works out."

The "Coyote on a Fence" cast includes Brian Gourd, Vanessa Adams-Harris, T.J. Bowlin and Mike Perez.