In 2004, Nick Yarris walked out of a Pennsylvania prison after 22 years on death row,

following a wrongful conviction for rape and murder.

His was the first death row case in Pennsylvania, one of the earlier ones in the country overturned by DNA evidence.

His story is now the focus of a new play on Broadway, titled The Fear of 13, starring two leading film actors, making their Broadway debuts.

Senior arts correspondent Jeffrey Brown spoke with them at the Broadway restaurant Sardis for our Art in Action series at the intersection of arts and democracy, part of our canvas coverage.

I got two things to tell you.

One, I did not kill Mrs. Craig.

I had nothing to do with that.

In the fear of 13, Adrian Brody plays Nick Yarris,

a prisoner finding ways to survive in a system that considers him a dead man.

Telling the story of his life to Jackie, a death row volunteer, with whom he eventually develops

a deep personal relationship played by Tessa Thompson.

For the two actors, the urgency of the subject was irresistible.

What?

If DNA is getting people convicted, why can't it get people released?

I'm sure DNA could.

Nick represents both grave injustice and the ability of the human spirit to soar above incredible hardship and oppression.

And that combination clearly granted.

And that, of course, speaks to me and speaks to what art can achieve and what we must aspire

to find in ourselves and others and hope must prevail. I just thought it was such a fantastic thing to offer audiences

because unfortunately our system is really built that when people are put behind bars

they're forgotten. It's inherent in the system.

...