LOOKING
FOR JUSTICE
(in all the wrong places)

A hippie, activist, lesbian, feminist, lawyer, judge’s search for identity & justice.
Written and performed by
Amy Oppenheimer
Directed by David Ford

ABOUT THE SHOW

From the 1960’s till today, Amy befriends, loves and represents a wide slice of America, all the time returning to her first encounter with the justice system following the 1970 rape of a friend.

Amy’s lifelong search for racial and sexual justice is now a one woman show that will debut at fringe festivals in Washington DC and Minnesota in the summer of 2024.

The at times humorous and at times deadly serious show begins in Berkeley in the early 1970’s during second wave feminism.  Amy finds her identity as a lesbian feminist, ultimately goes to law school to fight for women’s rights, then represents coal miners and battered women in Appalachia before returning to California to open a lesbian feminist law practice. She is representing women who had been sexually harassed – pre-Anita Hill – but keeps seeing all sides of things, becomes an administrative judge and founds a law firm to do impartial investigations of harassment and discrimination. She adopts two children – both biracial - and experiences racism up close and personal. 

In the meantime, she can’t stop revisiting her first experience with the criminal justice system when she accompanied a friend to a rape trial. Her (white) friend had been raped by a (Black) boyfriend. The friend wanted him to get help, rather than serve a decade in prison. This restorative justice solution was not an option. Amy wonders about her role in the verdict and if real justice is possible in an unjust world. 

Trigger warning:

The content of this production includes topics and events that may be triggering to some people including sexual violence/rape, sexual harassment, racism and familial violence.

About AMY

Amy Oppenheimer, a lesbian feminist lawyer and retired judge, has spent her 45-year legal career advocating for women and people of color and speaking truth to power. She is co-author of Investigating Workplace Harassment: How to be Fair, Thorough and Legal (SHRM 2002).

Hers is a heartbreaking, intimate, and memorable story. I recommend it.

Aileen-johnson, DC THEATER ARTS

“Oppenheimer has put together a nuanced, thought-provoking show about the grayscale nature of justice.”

PRESs