As the holidays approach, some of us may be looking for a book to buy for those we know interested in prison issues. From The Inside-Out website I've added this booklist that I think is fairly comprehensive about prison. Inside-Out is a uique educational programs that pairs student-learners and prison-students in a correctional setting where they study college-level issues intersting to all involved. I've also added a few of my own suggestions and some from Lois Ahrens at The Real Cost of Prisons Project

Suggested Readings

If you live anywhere near NYC, you might want to catch an altogether amazing production of Julius Caesar before it leaves Brooklyn after this weekend. This is a production by the famed Donmar Warehouse that takes place at St. Ann's Warehouse.

The construct of this production is that it takes place in a prison. All are women prisoners who decide to perform a production of the famed Shakespearean play. The New York Times called the show "gender-bending" but that is not actually accurate. When I directed women in prison, they played male characters and were superb. I attributed this to the fact that women spend so much time watching men than it is not all that difficult to portray them. The women here also superbly step into the shoes of Caesar and his followers and yet there is a sense always that they are playing characters who have so much more power than they do.

Women playing men who have the power. That is the key since women behind bars have so little power and in the raw violence, the grey of the prison and the dramatic singing and need to transcend prison walls the play is always the vehicle.

Some of the best moments in this production directed by Phillyda Lloyd, take place when the audience sees the disjunction between prisoner and play. A woman gets a visit and the actresses break with curses and fury, not wanting to lose their fellow cast member even for a few minutes of the show, a show one imagines will continue on and on since it is the life of women. We discover that Caesar is not the prisoner we thought she was at the end of the play when she unzips her prison garb to reveal a guard's clean white shirt and tie — these are Brits mind you. It is an unexpected stunning moment. 

Likewise, one of the least successful is the herding in of audience members by guards. It feels much more cliché than any other moment. But it is a rarity in a production that truly examines power.The play is 100% clear and even if you forgot your Caesar you get every word, every tension. The actors are physical and the set a warehouse at its best with upper levels and a dimly lit world to jump and descend to

The women in this play impressed me as actors but what I came away with most is how Shakespeare relates so much to the experience of incarcerated persons. This is why so many of us work with prisoners to put on Shakespeare. A reminder once again that universality is not just a word

Shoutout to upcoming Shakespeare in Prison conference next weekend, November 15th-17th.

Check out my new blog on about Andrea James’s new book. and if you are you experiencing withdrawal from the hit series Orange is the New Black, maybe you’ll find some solace from her very readable and often funny new release, Upper Bunkies Unite: And Other Thoughts on the Politics of Mass Incarceration.  More

Some years ago my friend and colleague, Curt Tofteland, founded a Shakespeare company behind bars. This was at the same time, ironically that I published my first book. And when we discovered we had coincidentally  chosen the same name for our projects– “Shakespeare Behind Bars,” we could not help but be connected. The mission of Toftland’s company was always “to offer theatrical encounters with personal and social issues to the incarcerated, allowing them to develop life skills that will ensure their successful reintegration into society.”

After five years of planning, Tofteland has worked out a terrific Shakespeare in Prisons Conference hosted by the University of Notre Dame on Friday, November 15, and Saturday, November 16, 2013. The conference,for starters, will feature keynote addresses and screenings by Toftland about Shakespeare Behind Bars.

Sammie, Demond and Big D work on an entrance. Courtesy of ShakespeareBehindBars.org

Tom Magill, the founder of the Educational Shakespeare Company and director of the Irish film Mickey B, an amazing rendition of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, will also be a conference highlight.

Photo from Micky B posted on Changing Lives, Changing Minds

The conference aims to bring together artists and educators engaged in transformational arts programs. There are many of us who use or have used Shakespeare in prisons across the United States (and the world) with incarcerated populations. The goal of the conference is to promote a collaborative learning forum, explore craft and allow networking time for practitioners.

See the site here to find out more about registration and housing but it is all incredibly reasonable.

In honor of the work, I give you Shylock and Portia from my production of  The Merchant of Venice at Framingham’s Women’s Prison in Massachusetts.

Photo from 1988 production of Merchant

These photos give a glimpse into how deeply Shakespeare can penetrate the performer. I applaud all of the practitioners who defy the doubters. Hopefully this conference will pack the house!

This week I wrote on Boston Magazine about a new Venture that gets Homeless people back to work, called
“CarryON!” In particular, it helps the homeless with criminal backgrounds get on their feet again by offering them a business opportunity.

Here are some photos that weren’t used in the article I posted online. Tres cool! Fred Smith one of the project’s founders and Development Director at Boston’s St. Francis House along with intern, Patricia Guiao, are pictured below. Guiao took all the photos posted here.