In Focus: ‘The Exonerated’ Examines Experiences of Those Wrongfully Convicted

The Central Lakes College Performing Arts Center began its latest production on Thursday, “The Exonerated.” Audience members at the show in Brainerd were also treated to a Q&A session afterwards to help them better understand the performance.

The play highlights the stories of people who were wrongly accused of murder and placed on death row.

“This was written, I think, in the early 2000s, and the people who put it together interviewed sort of a vast number of people who had been convicted of murder, sent to death row, and subsequently exonerated by organizations like the Innocence Project,” said director Rebecca Timmins.

In the Upper Midwest, the Great North Innocence Project helps wrongfully convicted people prove their innocence and return them to their normal lives.

“[We’re] an organization that works to free the wrongfully convicted through litigation, and we also work to reform the criminal legal system to make it more fair, more accountable, more accurate,” explained Jim Mayer, the legal director for the organization.

Throughout the show, which is based on real events, stories of coercion, malpractice, and racism are shown that lead to the arrests of the characters. Mayer says the tales in the show replicate much of what he sees in real life.

“Seeing ‘The Exonerated’ and the performances in this play was amazing. It really reminded me so much of the work that we do on a daily basis,” he said. “A lot of these stories have many, many similarities, a lot of the causes of wrongful convictions we see over and over and over again. So the themes that are explored in the play are themes that we see in the real world every day.”

Mayer, along with Timmins and Gary Payne, a sociology professor at CLC, held a Q&A to help audience members better understand some of the themes within the show.

“We make the system better through thoughtful criticism,” said Payne. “And this was a terrific play to show what’s going on and people should see it.”

Payne says that the show will help open people’s eyes to some of the flaws that may be present in our justice system, for better or for worse.

“It borders on the unbelievable what can happen to you if the system doesn’t work right,” he added. “And you know, we have a system that has some good things going and some things that need work. And this really points it out.”

“The Exonerated” will run through Saturday, May 24th, with shows at 2 and 7 p.m. at the Dryden Theatre in Brainerd.