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
