For consulting on Peacock’s ‘Long Bright River,’ Savage Sisters is getting a new recovery home

“Long Bright River,” the Peacock series about a patrol officer in Kensington who grows increasingly worried about her missing sister, consulted with the nonprofit Savage Sisters to paint an authentic portrait of substance use — and the efforts to help people in addiction — in the neighborhood. 

Now the show, which began streaming Thursday, has given back to Savage Sisters by providing funding for the organization to lease a new recovery home in Kensington and pledging to cover the rent, food and utilities for the people who live there. 

RELATED: How Philly artists, actors brought ‘authenticity and energy’ to Peacock’s Kensington-set ‘Long Bright River’

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Savage Sisters provides resources for people in recovery for substance use disorders. The new recovery home will allow it to house six or seven people entering recovery, founder Sarah Laurel said. The donation came as a surprise when it was announced Friday during a “Long Bright River” panel held at FringeArts.

“It’s a very generous offer, and I think it is a long-standing way to help impact the community, because a large majority of the residents that we have under our care come from homelessness in Kensington,” Laurel said Wednesday. 

She said Savage Sisters is in the early stages of nailing down the details for the new facility, but that Peacock’s donation came an opportune time because Savage Sisters recently closed two other properties.  

Savage Sisters’ provides “safe, structured, trauma-informed and pro-social” housing environments for people recovering from substance use, according to its website. It also offers free therapy, kickboxing, yoga and other alternative recovery programs for residents, Laurel said. 

Laurel, a Kensington resident who is in recovery from substance use disorder, founded the organization in 2018. Its mission also includes outreach and advocacy about harm reduction, education and ending stigmas about addiction. 

“Long Bright River” follows Mickey Fitzpatrick (Amanda Seyfried) as a Philly police officer who patrols Kensington. As police investigate the mysterious deaths of sex workers in the neighborhood, Mickey grows increasingly worried about her missing sister, Kacey (Ashleigh Cummings), who has been battling drug addiction. The show, based on a 2020 novel by Temple University professor Liz Moore, brought on many Philly actors, artists, musicians and consultants to capture the essence of the city — despite filming in New York. 

Laurel became a consultant after meeting Moore when the author learned about Peacock’s plans to turn “long Bright River” into a TV show several years ago. Moore came by the Savage Sisters storefront on Kensington Avenue hoping to have a detailed conversation about Laurel’s background and about the work that the organization was doing.

“So it was the fact that I’m pretty open about having been in Kensington as a drug user with substance use disorder and now (as) a resident and somebody doing harm reduction work,” Laurel said when asked why Moore sought her as a consultant. 

Philadelphia police officers were recruited to take Seyfried on a ride-along to prepare for her role as a police officer, but Laurel said her role as a consultant involved talking with Moore about the specific language used in harm reduction, doing overdose reversal training with Seyfried and Cummings. She also worked closely with Cummings, an Australian actress, on her role as a Kensington woman dealing with addiction. 

Laurel said she stopped by the New York City set a couple of times to give feedback on some scenes — “It was a very intense energy,” she said — but much of her work happened when Cummings took the train to Philly to visit her at the Savage Sisters office or her house. Sometimes, they took walks around Kensington.

“I really wanted to stress the fact that Kensington has become bastardized in the media as this awful, terrible space,” Laurel said. “But I could sit on my stoop all day long, and nobody would bother me. The neighbors were friendly; there’s a family energy that goes on. There’s also the other elements taking place, but they co-exist and have for years. I don’t think it’s ideal, but I do think that it’s important to stress that there’s a large familial population, and they are beautiful and incredible. I just thought that was important, and (Cummings) got to see that.”

Cummings echoed that sentiment Friday during an interview before the FringeArts panel, saying she was surprised by how much laughter she witnessed at Savage Sisters, and that everyone she met there was “so generous” in sharing stories and experiences.

Along with substance use issues and homelessness, “Long Bright River” also shines a light on the violence that some women face in Kensington. Laurel, who said she’s gone on many missions looking for missing women without help from authorities, added that she was “humbled by the level of compassion and dedication” that Peacock took in telling the “Long Bright River” story.

“Women in particular who go missing or experience violence due to other circumstances in their life go largely under investigated, and this does show the contrast in one individual (Mickey) who’s really putting an effort forward versus the general consensus of, ‘They don’t matter,'” Laurel said. “… I think this is going to amplify the need for caring about those women and the violence that takes place there.”

During the FringeArts panel, Seyfried revealed the “Long Bright River” team also donated money to the John H. Webster Elementary School in Kensington. The gift will fund new school uniforms, a cafeteria freezer, and a washer and dryer. 

All eight episodes of “Long Bright River” are now streaming on Peacock.