PUNCH: RESPONSES TO VIOLENT CRIME – WHERE STORYTELLING AND ART MEET POLICY is Coming to 92NY
The US streaming broadcast will take place on Monday, October 6, 7 pm ET, from $10.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Sep. 19, 2025
The new Broadway show, Punch, by Olivier Award-winning playwright James Graham, focuses on the consequences of a single deadly punch – and how intentional dialogue can lead to healing. Graham joins Kellsie Sayers, director of Restorative Practices at CJI; and Chesa Boudin, law professor and former San Francisco DA for a conversation on the power of storytelling and how crafting narratives can bring us closer to — and, in some cases, further from — a more just criminal legal system. This virtual event is presented by 92NY, Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) & Center for Justice Innovation (CJI) with broadcasts on Monday, October 6 and Tuesday, October 7.
James Graham – Punch playwright, speaks about his decision to adapt Jacob's book into a play, the challenge in making this intense, emotional, complicated story into a narrative that audiences will respond to, and what change he hopes that the play can create in both the UK and the US.
Kellsie Sayers – director of Restorative Practices at CJI, talks about the importance of storytelling in the practice of Restorative Justice and how much empathy is opened up when we have an opportunity to hear each other's stories. She also talks about how she has crafted a narrative about the impact and effectiveness of RJ in convincing stakeholders in NY to refer cases to CJI to facilitate.
Chesa Boudin – law professor at Berkeley and former DA in San Francisco, talks about the ways that crime narratives can be weaponized and how he faced this during his time as DA. He can also speak to his own narrative as a child of two people who were incarcerated, and the different stories that have been told about his parents and the movement that they were a part of (ex. Mother Country Radical).
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