Last Hours of Condemned Killer J. P. Johnson : Drama: ‘In the Name of the People’ deals with the death penalty and how the system treats victims and survivors.

“C harming is my through-line,” jokes Gino Cabanas, who plays a convicted rapist-murderer in the Road Theatre Company’s staging of Tim Boland’s “In the Name of the People,” which begins previews Wednesday at the Burbank theater. The drama, set in a death house holding cell, follows the last hours of J. P. Johnson, as well as those whose lives he’s touched: his mother, his daughter and the parents of his teen-aged victim.

“He’s been on Death Row for 10 years,” Cabanas says. “He’s already had two stays; now he knows he’s going to die.”

Actress Taylor Gilbert, who’s directing the 10-character piece, concedes that “a lot of it is about J. P.’s last day. But it’s also about how the system treats victims and survivors, about people trying to take their lives back, how the judicial process has a tendency to use and abuse. It’s not a bad system--it just is what it is.”

Gilbert (whose film credits include “Tucker” and “True Believer”) stressed that the play is not a diatribe, either for or against the death penalty. “It’s important to get across both sides of what the death penalty does. These people are trying to live after a death. The mother of the dead girl starts Parents for Justice; her whole life is about holding onto that pain. Her husband has come to grips with it and is trying to get on with his life, trying to finally bury his child.”

The story is set both in J. P.’s cell and in the home of the victim’s parents, the Murphys. “J. P. has to meet with all these people,” Gilbert says. “The day is filled with trauma for him, for the Murphys, for his mother. Everyone who comes to his cell wants something from him.”

(Cabanas is planning some up-close research by taking the cast on a field trip to the local jail: “We want to see how the guards stand and talk, look in the prisoners’ eyes, listen to the sounds and noises.”)

“Name” marks the Road’s second entry; its first was a well-received revival of Lanford Wilson’s “Balm in Gilead,” which closed last weekend. “We chose it for many reasons,” says Cabanas, who is also the group’s artistic director. “First, money-wise: With a large cast, we got all their friends and relatives, good word of mouth. Plus it’s a hard play; we knew if we pulled it off, we’d get a lot of credibility. We also want to relate to issues. That was about drugs, the homeless. This one also mirrors what’s going on in society today.”

Housed in a well-tended warehouse complex in Burbank, the 34-member company is the brainchild of Cabanas, who just eight months ago got hooked on the idea of starting his own theater group.

In March, he met Patrick F. Kline (now Road executive producer) at a party. “By April, we were looking for spaces; by May, we found this space. We’ve been very blessed, got a lot of help from a lot of people. One actor who auditioned had 50 seats in his garage and said, ‘If you want them, they’re yours.’ Another actor got 25 seats from Friends & Artists, who were refurbishing their theater. Yesterday, we got $5,000 worth of black curtains from a George Michael video that had been left in a dumpster.”

A Florida native, Cabanas, 31, moved to Miami when “Miami Vice” began production there, figuring that it was a good opportunity to get his union card; he eventually appeared in a half-dozen “Vice” episodes. During his stay in Miami, he also hooked up with the Acme Theatre Group. “We did 27 shows over four years, and I was involved in all but two,” Cabanas says proudly. “I acted, directed, produced, built sets, made costumes, ran lights. We didn’t make any money, but we were happy.”

A move to Los Angeles last year changed all that.

“I was working as a maitre d’ and making lots of money, but I was miserable because I wasn’t doing theater,” he says. Although he did appear in a few local plays (including “Travel by Night,” where he met Gilbert), Cabanas is relishing the experience of having his own group. “This is our space; we can be here any time we want. Today we started at noon; we’ll go till 9 or 10.”

As for the long term, “it’s going to be a bumpy road, a smooth road, lots of cracks,” he says cheerfully. “I haven’t been here long enough to be jaded.”

“In the Name of the People” previews Wednesday and Thursday and opens Nov. 1 at the Road Theatre, 10741 Sherman Way, No. 8, Burbank. Curtain is at 8 p.m. Thursdays to Sundays through Dec. 7. Admission: $10 to $12.50. (818) 503-7792. Arkatov writes frequently about theater for Calendar.