Shakespeare in Prison: Detroit, Michigan

Check out Shakespeare in Prison, a blog sponsored by the Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company (Detroit, Michigan).  Here's an introduction to their work:

Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company of Detroit is thrilled to announce its Shakespeare in Prison program, which is being conducted at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti, Michigan, beginning in February 2012 and running continuously thereafter. This program, modeled on other successful programs of its kind, will empower inmates through theatre exercises and Shakespearean text to think creatively, re-examine decisions they’ve made, become more in touch with their emotions, and develop crucial life skills to be used both in and out of prison.

Inmates who volunteer for the Shakespeare in Prison program have worked with Shakespearean monologues and scenes in the past, and are currently working on The Tempest, experiencing the empowerment and satisfaction derived from working with this material. There is an idea that only “great actors” can do Shakespeare “right,” and that is absolutely false. Anyone can perform Shakespeare, and everyone has the right to create art as part of being a self-aware and individual human being. Participants will also be given the option of staging a full play by Shakespeare.
Similar programs have proven to be extremely effective in empowering inmates to think creatively, re-examine decisions they’ve made, get more in touch with their emotions, and develop life skills such as confidence in creative thinking and speaking in front of an audience. These programs are also very effective in building self-esteem in the prisoners, and all of these effects have a direct impact on prisoners’ ability to become constructive members of society when they are released, or, if they are not released, excellent citizens and role models in the facility. Magenta Giraffe’s program is modeled after Shakespeare Behind Bars, the oldest program of its kind in North America. The founder and artistic director of that program, Curt Tofteland, has been advising the project’s facilitator, Executive Artistic Director Frannie Shepherd-Bates. Participants in Shakespeare Behind Bars have had only a 7% recidivism rate, as contrasted with the national rate of 67%, and Magenta Giraffe hopes to continue that trend with its own program.

Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, serves as the only prison in Michigan which houses females. The facility provides all reception center processing which includes fourteen housing units for general population prisoners in level I, II, and IV, Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT), Residential Treatment Program (RTP), Acute Care, Infirmary and Detention. The Shakespeare in Prison program will be an addition to the many other programs the facility offers. Adult Basic Education and General Education Development preparation classes are offered, as well as special education services and pre-release classes.. Vocational training is offered in Auto Mechanics, Building Trades, Business Education Technology, Horticulture, and Custodial Maintenance. Prisoners have access to religious services, faith-based programs, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, family preservation programming, twelve step support meetings, and general library and law library services. Prisoners are provided on-site routine medical and dental care. Pregnant prisoners receive counseling, parenting classes, and child care options.

“We’re very excited about Shakespeare In Prison coming to our facility,” says Deputy Warden of programs Karri Osterhaut.  “It is a wonderful opportunity for the female prisoner population to learn about theatre and literature, and about themselves in the process.”

Shakespeare in Prison has the potential for real change in the community, helping women achieve a sense of self that can help them with their families, their community, and their personal future.
For more information about Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company, please visit www.magentagiraffe.org or call 313-408-7269. For more information about Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, please visit www.michigan.gov/corrections.

ABOUT Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company – The Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company is a nonprofit organization that acts to eliminate apathy, violence, prejudice and barriers to education through theatre productions, projects and programs; and further acts to reestablish and expand Detroit’s theatre district.

HAMLET in a South African Prison

Taking “Shakespeare Inside” Out, Colette Gordon Talks to Tauriq Jenkins about Hamlet in prison and a “first for South African theater”

In December 2011, in a community hall in Cape Town, youth awaiting trial in Cape Town from Ottery Youth Care Centre performed their version of Hamlet—created, rehearsed, and performed inside the institution, for one time only before the public and outside incarcerated space.

Performances like this are rarely seen. Shakespeare prison projects tend to allow only fleeting glimpses of performance “inside.” Mickey B, which Ramona Wray wrote about in the fall 2011 special issue of Shakespeare Quarterly, with a follow-up interview with the director in the SQ Forum, is one exception. Through the Educational Shakespeare Company’s film project, prisoners at Belfast’s Maghaberry Prison were able to produce a full-length adaptation of Macbeth which was then screened for audiences outside the prison.

In the case of Hamlet, performed by incarcerated youth in Cape Town, actors and audience experienced a live performance that took both groups away from the prison and expectations of prison Shakespeare.

I interviewed the director, Tauriq Jenkins, about the role and importance of this work and about Shakespeare in a South African context of incarceration.

—Colette Gordon

LINKS:

1.  Colette Gordon's interview with Tauriq Jenkins

2.  Documentary on incarcerated youth's production of Hamlet

NEW BOOK: Shakespeare Saved My Life: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard

Just as Larry Newton, one of the most notorious inmates at Indiana Federal Prison, was trying to break out of jail, Dr. Laura Bates was trying to break in. Now, a decade later, her Shakespeare in Shackles program has been lauded by academics and prison communities alike. In this profound illustration of the enduring lessons of Shakespeare through the ten-year relationship of Bates and Newton, an amazing testament to the power of literature emerges. But it's not just the prisoners who are transformed. It is a starkly engaging tale, one that will be embraced by anyone who has ever been changed by a book.

Available for pre-order on amazon.com

NEW BOOK: Working for Justice: A Handbook of Prison Education and Activism

This volume contains a wide range of work from leading prison activist-scholars who share a common vision of a society that does not depend on mass incarceration to solve its problems.

 

 Now available on pre-order from amazon.com

Shakespeare in Shackles

CLICK HERE to watch an interview with Dr. Laura Bates, founder of Shakespeare in Shackles, the world's first Shakespeare program in supermax.

Laura Bates will present a TED talk (TEDxUCLA) today titled Shakespeare in Shackles: The Transformative Power of Literature.

from the TEDxUCLA site:
 
Laura Bates has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Comparative Literature, with a focus on Shakespeare studies. She is a professor of English at Indiana State University, where she has taught courses on Shakespeare for the past fifteen years to students on campus and in prison.
For more than 25 years she has worked in prisons as a volunteer and as a professor. She created the world’s first Shakespeare program in supermax—the long-term solitary confinement unit.  Her work has been featured in local and national media, including two segments on MSNBC-TV’s Lock Up.
She is the author of “Shakespeare Saved My Life”: Ten Years in Solitary with the Bard (Sourcebooks, 2013).

She has been happily married for nearly thirty years to Allan Bates, a retired professor and playwright.

From the archives: The Shakespeare Project Presents OTHELLO

Photos (c) by Joe Crimmings

Prisoners in The Muddy Flower Theatre Troupe at Racine Correctional Institution in Wisconsin studied, rehearsed, and performed Othello by William Shakespeare, September 2005 - June 2006.

"It was stunning - Shakespeare as Shakespeare was meant to be - real, raw,  and electrifying. The actor who played the lead had a powerful on-stage presence and emoted real anguish. Iago was positively machiavellian. And Desdemona made me cry. It was by far the most memorable performance of  the play I have ever seen - truly transformative." ~ Jean Feraca, host of Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, Wisconsin Public Radio

Click here to listen to the one-hour radio broadcast

Curt Tofteland: Distinguished Visiting Lecturer at Centenary College

Centenary College (New Jersey) will be holding the first event in the 2012-2013 Distinguished Visiting Series Gates-Ferry Lecture on Sept. 5. Curt L. Tofteland will be showing his documentary “Shakespeare Behind Bars” at 6 p.m. in the Sitnik Theater at the David and Carol Lackland Center (715 Grand Ave., Hackettstown) with a refreshment break at 7:30 p.m. and then a separate talk back discussion with Tofteland about his professional experience at 8 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Tofteland is the founder of the internationally acclaimed Shakespeare Behind Bars (SBB) program. Shakespeare Behind Bars offers theatrical encounters with personal and social issues to the incarcerated, allowing them to develop life skills that will ensure their successful reintegration into society.

Now in its 18th year, Shakespeare Behind Bars is the oldest program of its kind in North America. SBB programming serves incarcerated adults and youth using the works of William Shakespeare. Philomath Films chronicled SBB in a documentary that premiered at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival and 40+ film festivals around the world. Tofteland has been invited to share his Shakespeare Behind Bars experience through screening the documentary, facilitating a post-screening audience talk-back, teaching master classes, and visiting classrooms at 33 colleges and universities (49 visits) across the United States.

“I am very pleased to serve as Gates-Ferry Distinguished Lecturer this fall and hope that my talks are informative and enlightening for those who are in attendance,” says Tofteland. “My work has made a difference in those who may have been uninspired. To make a positive impact on these individuals has been an experience that has been so rewarding.”

Tofteland will be teaching on the Centenary campus all week to students as part of his lectureship. The Spring Gates-Ferry lecturer will feature the former congresswoman Liz Holtzman.

by Warren Reporter, nj.com