Friday, October 7, 2011
Monday, July 25, 2011
Teya Sepinuck in Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland
Teya Sepinuck (Theater of Witness) shares her recent work at the inaugural International Culture Arts Network (ICAN) conference held at The Playhouse, Derry-Londonderry, Northern Ireland (October 2010).
Teya was joined by local artists and by speakers from Rwanda, Cape Town, Beirut, Lebanon, London, all there to share their creative models and innovative approaches to socially engaged arts practice.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Northpoint: Voices from a Kentucky Prison
Monday, May 23, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Baruch Performing Arts Center
25th St. between Lexington Ave. & Third Ave.
New York
Tickets on sale May 1st
On Monday, May 23rd, New York’s theatrical community will come together to present Northpoint: Voices from a Kentucky Prison, a benefit reading of short plays written by prisoners at Northpoint in Burgin, Kentucky. This exciting, one-night only event will support the 2011 playwriting program at Northpoint as well as seed a two-week playwright residency at the prison.
The performance will feature:
The Lie and the Cover by Nicklaus Murrell, directed by Daniel Talbott
Screen Warriors by Denny Holder, directed by Jeremy Dobrish
Convictions by Rob Daughenbaugh, directed by Melanie Sutherland
Lunker by Jack Cook, directed by Carlo Altomare
The Innocent Man by Calvin Sturgill, directed by Erma Duricko
Reflections from Behind the Wire by Rick Cavins, directed by Padraic Lillis
and live music by Doug Wamble.
The performance will last 80 minutes and be followed by a reception.
Theaterlab, a New York City non-profit arts organization, is producing Northpoint: Voices from a Kentucky Prison, in association with AMZ Creative, LLC.
THE PLAYWRITING PROGRAM AT NORTHPOINT
In the summer of 2010, Curt L. Tofteland, Shakespeare Behind Bars Producing Director, partnered with producer/playwright Robby Henson, Robby’s sister Holly Henson, (Artistic Director, Pioneer Playhouse), and playwright Elizabeth Orndorf to begin a new 10-minute playwriting program funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at the Northpoint Training Center in Burgin, Kentucky.
The inmates read Ms. Orndorf’s play The Dillenger’s Dilemma, and then, through a series of classes and workshops, wrote their own plays. The inaugural program produced 10 plays by six prisoner-playwrights.
“I am excited that the Pioneer Playhouse is interested in coordinating and conducting this project at Northpoint. I am always eager to partner with community agencies in events that are beneficial to the inmates and help teach positive new skills and interest,” said Steve Haney, Northpoint's warden.
Here’s what the prisoner-playwrights said about the program:
“This opportunity encourages us to learn about subjects that can benefit us not only while we are incarcerated, but when we rejoin society. Many of us only have what we have learned prior to prison, or in prison. So any opportunity to learn and grow is tremendously beneficial and appreciated!” -- Denny Holder
“After just two classes I have been really inspired to follow my dream of becoming a writer.” -- Jack Cook
“With art in our lives it allows us to be creative, which opens up an opportunity to think, which opens doors to see what is going on inside of us. It’s a wonderful chance to better ourselves.” -- Nicklaus Murrell
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
http://www.northpointplays.com/Northpoint/Home.html
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Saturday, March 26, 2011
The Prison Studies Group
presents:
Theater Behind Bars:
A conversation with Brent Buell
Thursday, April 7 at 4:30pm – GC Room 5409
CUNY Graduate Center · 365 Fifth Avenue · NY NY 10016
Theater producer and director Brent Buell volunteered for ten years with the non-profit organization Rehabilitation Through the Arts, directing theater in several New York medium- and maximum-security prisons. There his productions of plays, ranging from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to three original works by prisoners, have earned praise from critics, including from The New York Times. His Breakin’ the Mummy’s Code premiered at Sing Sing and was the subject of a feature article in Esquire by bestselling author, John Richardson. His experiences provided the basis for his chapter “Drama in the Big House” in the book Performing New Lives, Prison Theater by Jonathan Shailor.
A passionate prison activist, Buell has used theater to educate people about the more than 2.5 million human beings this nation has locked behind bars. He took the creative and directorial helm on From Sing Sing to Broadway, which premiered at Playwrights Horizons in NYC—starring eight men who had been incarcerated. He teamed with three former prisoners to write and produce Wood Bars for the opening of John Buffalo Mailer and Tom Kail’s Back House Productions.
He is currently directing Iyaba Ibo Mandingo’s unFRAMED. His company, Doing Life Productions is co-producing the show with Double Play Connections and TONY Award-winning executive producer, Jane Dubin. Website: http://www.unFRAMEDthePlay.com.
Brent will be speaking about his experiences as a prison volunteer, will show clips from some of the films he’s made inside prisons, and will address current issues facing prison reform activists. He says, “I love theater. I think that it is one of the most powerful forces for social change that exists. For ten years I’ve witnessed how magnificently theater—just theater, no therapy, no sociodrama, no psychological agendas—can touch and renew the human spirit—even in the darkest of prisons. It’s the greatest single gift my art has given me. I am sure that other approaches have their place, but for me the process of theater is all that is needed to touch and begin to transform anyone.”
The Prison Studies Group is a chartered organization of the Doctoral Student Council at the CUNY Graduate Center. To join the listserv, please email prisonstudiesgroup@gmail.com.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
EAST SIDE INSTITUTE PRESENTS
PERFORMING NEW LIVES:
A Conversation with Artists Behind Bars on the Power and Potential of Prison Theatre
Thursday, March 17, 6:30 – 8:30pm
The Actor’s Company Theatre Studio, 900 Broadway, Suite 905
$25 in advance/$30 at the door; $10 Students/Unemployed
Across the United States — behind bars and mostly under the radar — artists, educators and activists are working with prisoners to create exciting and varied theatre: plays by Shakespeare and Becket, Greek tragedies, modern classics, and original pieces woven together from the stories and experiences of the prisoners themselves. Now, for the first time, a collection of essays has been published that documents this work on a broad scale: Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). The book is a collection of 17 essays representing 14 programs across the country. Editor/author Jonathan Shailor and eight other contributors to this volume (all of them facilitators of prison theatre programs) will share stories of their work, engage the audience in dialogue, and sign copies of the book, which will be available at a discount.
THE PRESENTERS
Brent Buell is a New York City author, actor, director, and social activist who worked for many years with Rehabilitation Through the Arts at Sing Sing and two other prisons. Judy Dworin has been developing collaborative multi-arts residencies at York Correctional Institution in Niantic, CT for the past seven years through her Hartford-based non-profit, the Judy Dworin Performance Project (JDPP). Sharon Lajoie is an actress, director and professor of theatre who for many years taught theatre classes and staged productions at New Hampshire State Prison for Men in Concord. John McCabe-Juhnke facilitates Theater Arts Workshops for Arts in Prison, Inc. and Prison Arts Project at the Lansing and Hutchinson Correctional Facilities in Kansas. Meade Palidofsky, playwright, lyricist, director and youth development specialist, is the founding Artistic Director of Storycatchers Theatre in Chicago. Palidofsky’s work with girls in prison is the subject of an Emmy Award-winning documentary, Girls on the Wall. Teya Sepinuck is the founder and director of Theatre of Witness, which gives voice to those who have been marginalized or are “invisible” in society. She has worked with men serving life sentences at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution in Chester. Jonathan Shailor created The Shakespeare Prison Project at Racine Correctional Institution in Wisconsin, and has facilitated theatre programs in prisons for over 15 years. Julia Taylor has facilitated theatre and creative writing workshops in both men’s and women’s prisons and in juvenile facilities as a member of the Prison Creative Arts Project. Jean Trounstine has been teaching and directing plays with women in prison and on probation since 1986. She is the author of Shakespeare Behind Bars: The Power of Drama in a Women’s Prison.
To register, go to www.eastsideinstitute.org and click on “Events,” or contact Melissa Meyer, 212.941.8906, ext 304, mmeyer@eastsideinstitute.org.
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