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. (Mar. 1)
