I’m about to go to prison for 5 months. Again. (Part 1)
Well, not like you might think. I’m an artist who works behind bars!
Since I was 22 I’ve been working in medium and maximum security penitentiaries in New York and Washington. I got involved through NYUs partnership with Rehabilitation through the Arts, and when I moved back to the west coast I connected with University Beyond Bars and have been teaching college-level theatre courses with them ever since.
Starting next week, I’m about to jump into an approximately 5-month long devising process with 25 students at a medium security men’s correctional facility in Washington.
I want to share this process with you, so this is the first of many weekly blogs talking about the project and what I am experiencing (bear in mind, I am under certain confidentiality obligations to my individual students and the DOC!).
Over the next few months I will be working with UBB students to devise a new piece of theatre in response to the questions:
(1) Where does unprovoked violence in American society come from?
(2) How can we find joy and resilience in the face of trauma?
Our goal is to write, rehearse, and produce a 60-minute play. To undertake this task, I’ll work behind bars for 2 semesters, building the play semester one and producing it for an audience in semester two. Actors will get to see the lifecycle of a play from beginning to end.
In Play Creation 201, we will create the play. Ensemble will work as playwrights, actors, and community members to build a strong physical and text-based narrative. Emerging leaders in the room will be asked to develop, write, and edit a script of the work produced in class. This script will be performed for a small audience after semester one, then revised and edited during the semester break.
In Play Production 202, following our Spring process, we will produce our script, performing in a larger venue for a larger audience including outside guests. We will cast the play, rehearse it, and students will learn about Development, Marketing, Technical Theatre, and other behind-the-scenes elements of creating a professional production.
My work with University Beyond Bars occupies a unique niche in their course offerings as one of the few ongoing arts opportunities available in the curriculum. Because UBB students are working towards Associates and Bachelors degrees, UBB staff focus on providing high-quality professors primarily in core subjects. University Beyond Bars has relatively few arts opportunities--and certainly not many that take academia “off the page and into the rehearsal room” in the same way that a practical theatre workshop allows.
Although arts education has now been proven to correlate to higher test scores, that is not the only benefit of infusing arts education into academic curriculum. Theatre education is proven to build empathy, improve emotional balance, foster creative problem-solving, develop communities, buoy conflict resolution skills, and improve public speaking. Theatre allows us step outside of ourselves and into the shoes of another human being--and by so doing we learn about the world around us and our place within it.
This will be my 5th course offering with UBB!
I have been in and out of this facility and working with this community for the last 3 years. I’m excited that I am starting to see many return students -- a budding ensemble -- of spectacular talent! Perhaps it is the setting, but these are some of the most honest, vulnerable actors a director could dream of working with.
Thanks for checking out the project, and hope you follow along to see what we create!
Hi friend! Thanks for stopping by, I’m really glad you’re here!
I’m an artist, writer, and creative consultant based in the Pacific Northwest. I see steemit as an incredible asset to artists and creatives as a way to share their work and connect with like-minded people. You can check out my intro post, read more about the theatre projects I work on, or follow me! I’m especially interested in finding other performing artists on this site. If that’s you, please say hello! See you around the steemosphere! @lilyraabe
Wow, just when I thought you couldn't get more interesting! I thought I was coordinating a lot of stuff. I tip my hat to you @lilyraabe. This is seriously impressive work you are doing. I love hearing about the rehabilitation of people who have gone through the system, and I have never met anyone doing anything like this. I can't imagine how much fun and fulfilling this must be. Teaching empathy is such a huge thing for people. It is especially good for people who never learned it and maybe perpetrated some crimes because they weren't empathetic towards their fellow human. I'm sure you also have plenty of students who maybe didn't do much bad at all, and just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. It's so good to hear about these programs that help acclimate people back into society, and provide them degrees! Major props to you. I look forward to reading more about this
Thanks so much for popping over to check this out. Everything you’re saying about theatre as a tool for rehabilitation is spot-on. Storytelling really does build empathy. I also like that the process of devising a play sends the message to this group that a) they have something important to say, and b) someone will want to hear about it. I don’t think they get that message very often. It’s remarkable what people are capable of, across the board, when they feel valued. I also have some musicians in the group, btw, and I believe there is a music program that runs on a small scale at the facility.
good for you @lilyraabe, this is an excellent endeavor and not easy! I assisted an artist in just one class at a juvenile facility and it was something I don't think that everyone is cut out for. Keep us posted as you go!
Thank you so much! It’s definitely one of my passion projects and I’m going to write about it weekly since I always have a lot of thoughts I want to get out after each workshop. :)
great idea and it will help the rest of us get a window in what it's like!
I freaking love you right now. I can't even... @curie, surely she deserves two in the same week? ;-)
Thank you for doing this. Keep being you! 💖
Aw, you’re pretty darn awesome yourself. At the facility I work there is also an organization called Yoga Behind Bars that does yoga programs (including teacher training for inmates so that they have real-world skills to market upon release) for the students!
Amazing work @lilyraabe, what an intriguing and presumably very rewarding job. I'm looking forward to following it!
Thanks for checking out this post, and for following the future blogs. :) See you around for sure!
Wow, that's something different, interesting project!. honestly I'm excited to read your following articles!
Thanks for stopping by to check it out--looking forward to having your read along! :)
This is awesome. I have done a couple terms at the young offenders center in my hometown teaching kids how to rap. I have never done any work in the grown up version. It looks like it should be a rewarding project that could help a lot of people move through some of their problems... good on you!
Hey! I bet that rap workshops work really well for engaging youth. I’ve never worked in a youth detention center, I’ve heard its an interesting population to try to reach. Must be an interesting experience working with them! Awesome that you’re doing that work, art is such a great outlet.
They are just kids that made a mistake for the most part, or were born on the wrong side of the poverty line... or both. They are kids and have unlimited potential and loved... LOVED... getting a chance to express themselves in a "cool" way. Rap (art) is a universal life changing activity and youth gravitate to it. These workshops have been really effective and super fun for me. I hope it comes around for me again this year.
Me too! And if it does, I hope you write about it so I can follow along! I’d love to know more about that journey. :)
Wow. I don't want to sound like a spammer with nothing to say here, but really, all I have right now is being super impressed with your choices and the way you go about implementing them.
Hey! I just appreciate knowing you stopped by, read, and found something meaningful in what I wrote. Thank you for the support. :)
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That is incredibly brave. I'm not really talking about physical safety, though that could be an issue. I'm instead thinking that it's going to be a very difficult venue to practice theater.
To act and to direct, you have to show vulnerability; you have to be open to revealing your vulnerability. Yet when in prison, revealing vulnerability is the last thing you want to do. That can open yourself up to physical danger.
There's no way I'd be brave enough to put myself in that position (assuming I thought I could teach theater). But you've done it before, so you must know what you're in for. :) Care to discuss your previous experience in these regards? How easy or difficult was it to get inmates to open up and express themselves artistically?
Well, first off thank you for stopping by and commenting, as well as for your kind words.
You know, in the facility I always feel a bit nervous walking through the grounds and going through security (the checkpoints really make you feel vulnerable passing the scanners and gates). But once I’m in the room I’ve never felt anything less than bubble-wrapped.
The students who are in my class are men who self-select to take a theatre course, they’re already a little out of the norm. It’s always a really diverse group, usually aged anywhere 17-70 and many varied ethnicities and backgrounds. I think they realize that I have to step out of my comfort zone by a lot to be in the room (I drive 2 hours in traffic to the facility, spend 1/2-1 hour in security, then 2.5-4 hours in class, then another 2ish hours to get home. Plus, I’m a woman, I’m on the younger side at 29, and I’m white. On top of all that, I’m the oddball theatre teacher in a program focused on math, science, and language arts.
I think they see that I’m vulnerable in that space, and they respond in kind. I’ve never had more responsive participants in exercises, more participatory conversation, or more invested artistic collaborators. Last semester I had a man actually dislocate his hip in class--and he didn’t tell us until 30 minutes late as we were wrapping up because he didn’t want to interrupt what we were doing (they had to carry him out in a stretcher).
The level of love, respect, and kindness there is really remarkable. Of course, you get some oddballs here and there, but I’ve been a teaching artist a long time and I know how to handle class clowns of any age, lol. We even have a transgender student enrolled in our classes, which has resulted in the group learning about the gender binary system and gender pronouns. I’m proud to say that despite some initial misgivings, by the end of the class nearly everyone had adopted the right pronouns of she/her for Kim.
In tone, it’s like a have a lot of big brothers. Nothing will hurt a hair on my head with that crew in the room. When I say bubblewrap, I really mean it. I think a lot of folks who go behind bars feel the same--this generosity of spirit is offered to all visitors (like me--they’re all pretty vulnerable when they walk inside a prison--you are literally inside the system).
That's awesome to know. Best of luck with the coming class.
I love this project and am so glad to see that it's paying off for you. Please keep it up and keep writing about it.