Talent shout: Shawn Hamilton

March 7, 2008.By Graydon Royce, Star Tribune.

One of the joys in Peter Rothstein's staging of "Parade" is the opportunity for individual actors to step up and shine. Shawn Hamilton knocks his moment out of the park.

He plays an opportunistic ex-con who figures in the frame-up of factory employee Leo Frank in a 1913 Atlanta slaying. Fierce, reckless, threatening and strongly voiced, Hamilton's character takes over the stage as his swaggering testimony blossoms into a full musical production number. It is a dazzling highlight in this crisp, impressive and ultimately heartbreaking production from Theatre Latté Da and Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company. (2 p.m. today and next Sun., 7:30 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 8 p.m. Sat. $25-$35. History Theatre, 30 E. 10th St., St. Paul. 651-292-4323.)