Here’s a big shout-out to a group of talented actors we worked with last weekend. Communities for Restorative Justice works with victims of crime and the offenders. The victim is given a space to express the harm they suffered, and the offender is expected to take responsibility for the harm and make amends.
C4RJ wanted to show how their process works. Much of the process centers on the Circle, in which the victim, offender, their supporters, police and C4RJ staff come together to explore what happened.
Naturally, finding actual offenders and victims to participate in a re-enactment wasn’t a real viable option. So we called upon the services of CP Casting to help us find talented local actors.
No one will ever confuse Boston with Hollywood, but Carolyn and her crew found some acting gems for us. We auditioned about 40 people for the four roles we were seeking, and many of the actors were very strong. We eventually whittled our selections down to Lorna, Rose, Ryan and Tod. The four of them, along with “in-house talent” (Holly, Keith, and Candace) absolutely nailed it.
Candace, who was playing herself as the Circle Keeper (facilitator) said: “I feel like I’m in a real circle!” Can’t get much of a better endorsement than that! Kudos also to Christy at C4RJ who wrote up the initial script, and to executive director, Jennifer, who was a big help in pre-production and as a collaborator on set.