In an interview with Adrien-Alice Hansel, playwright Matthew Capodicasa discusses his comedy, 'The Scenarios', inspired by crisis intervention training for police officers. Having worked in a social services agency, he observed that actors would role-play as emotionally distressed individuals during training sessions. The experience revealed an imbalance between the trained officers and the actors, leading to questions about authenticity and risk in real-life situations. Capodicasa highlights the unique motivations of actors involved, many of whom had personal connections to the worlds of behavioral health and criminal justice, further complicating the narrative of their performances.
I had a day job working for a social services agency in New York City as an administrative assistant. They also had a contract from the NY Police Department to do what's called CIT.
And I noticed a few things. The trainings themselves were in that uncanny valley, and also kind of moving in a way that everyone was on best behavior.
There was an imbalance of experience; the actors are acting, the cops are acting as well, but the cops are cops.
I also started to interact with the actors a little and learned that a lot of them gravitated toward this job because they had some sort of intersection with one of those worlds.
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