Living Justice
Love, Freedom, and the Making of The Exonerated
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $14.99
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- $14.99
Publisher Description
A love story. An artistic journey. A matter of life and death...
In 2000, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen embarked on a tour across America -- one that would give them a glimpse of the darker side of the justice system and, at the same time, reveal to them just how resilient the human spirit can be. They were a pair of young actors from New York who wanted to learn more about our country's exonerated -- men and women who had been sentenced to die for crimes they didn't commit, who spent anywhere from two to twenty-two years on death row, and who were freed amidst overwhelming evidence of their innocence. The result of their journey was The Exonerated, New York Times number one play of 2002, which was embraced by such acting luminaries as Ossie Davis, Richard Dreyfuss, Danny Glover, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, and Robin Williams.
Living Justice is Jessica and Erik's fascinating, behind-the-scenes account of the creation of their play. A tale of artistic expression and political awakening, innocence lost and wisdom won, this is above all a story about two people who fall in love while pursuing their passion and learn -- through the stories of the exonerated -- what freedom truly means.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Capitalizing on a shifting trend in public attitudes about the death penalty in 2000, former actors Blank and Jensen decided to write an ensemble piece using the words of real people to highlight the legal flaws in the death penalty statute. The result was the play The Exonerated, about wrongly convicted men and women on death row throughout America. This passionate book explains how Blank and Jensen researched the work and concurrently tells the story of how their own relationship blossomed in the process. Initially worried about winning the confidence of the freed ex-convicts, Blank, a "pushy East Coaster," and Jensen, a self-absorbed Midwesterner, charmed and cajoled the suspicious and secretive group into revealing how the justice system shortchanged them by lack of hard evidence, legal miscues and racism. The authors illuminate each case and then explain how they assembled their findings into a script. The play's Broadway production, which starred Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Richard Dreyfuss and others, went on to receive critical acclaim; and the work recently appeared on Court TV. This book about its making is a fascinating, revealing memoir by a couple who were able to find meaning in their lives and bring light to a pressing issue in American society.
