Some years ago I brought an amazing artist to my college, Middlesex Community College, in Lowell, Massachusetts — Homer Jackson.  Jackson had honed his chops on Philadelphia's performance art scene and worked with prisoners and former prisoners.  My students loved him, and in particular, the way he allowed art and performance, poverty and loss, prisoner and free person to all blend into one.

One thing always leads to another it seems, when you're working for prisoner rights, and this year, I heard from a friend of Homer's, Steve Rowland,a two-time Peabody Award winning documentary producer, currently involved in a new project.

Called "Globe to Globe Visits Prison, or, To Whom Does Shakespeare Belong?" Rowland says he had two experiences that changed his world:  1) interviewing men in a Shakespeare class organized by Rehabiltation Through The Arts at Woodbourne Prison in NY State;  2) being the head interviewer at an amazing international Shakespeare festival at London's Globe Theater

Now, along side the Globe and along with Rehabilitation through the Arts, he's using material from three of Shakespeare's plays and making a documentary touching on issues domestic violence, questions of manhood, loyalty, betrayal, way and identity.

Here's a photo from a Nigerian production of A Winter's Tale which inspired Rowland.

And here's 5 minute trailer on his project page which clarifies more about the documentary.

Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA)  was founded in Sing Sing in 1996. Today, RTA works in five New York State prisons with innovative programs in theatre, dance, creative writing, voice and visual art. From their website, RTA says that they are "dedicated to using the creative arts as a tool for social and cognitive transformation behind prison walls."

In times of violence, I look for hope.  Here it is:

Sarah Jane Coffman is serving a 14-year sentence for murder in Eagle River Alaska’s Hiland Mountain Correctional Facility.  Yes, she is a perpetrator of an awful crime.  But as so many of us know who have worked behind bars, Sarah is not only the face of crime.  As reported by Mark Thiessen  in the Associated Press, she founded the prison orchestra in 2003.  She had her debut as a member of the free world when the orchestra performed two annual holiday concerts on December 8th, 2012.

Sarah plays the viola in what can only be described as a fairly welcoming environment– for a prison.  She was released in February but actually has driven every Saturday to rehearse with the orchestra.  She plays with women who became her friends behind bars.  Not unusual for females.Many make bonds and connect deeply to bare the time, time often away from their children. Nearly 70% of women in prison are mothers– at Framingham Women’s Prison when I was there, it was 80%.

Thiessen reports that “This year’s concert is also a milestone for another founding member, cellist Dana Hilbish, convicted for the 1991 murder of her common law husband in Ketchikan. She received a 60-year sentence, with 25 suspended.  It will be her last performance. Hilbish has been granted parole early next year.”  She felt that the orchestra has been a family for her.

An outside artist named Pati Crofut, who directs the Anchorage-based Arts on the Edge, began directing the orchestra nine years ago. She encourages long-termers to be part of the musical experience since it takes time to learn how to play classical music.  There are 30 members now.

A nice observation by Conductor Gabrielle Whitfield, an Anchorage public schools teacher, “They always say the greater a person’s sadness in life, the greater their capacity for joy,” she said. “I totally find that to be true here.”  In my experience this is true,as women behind bars create art to heal, touch deep parts of themselves and learn to get outside of their crimes.

To listen to the orchestra and hear more of their insights about art and music, go here for a glorious video. 

And for another piece of hope, read my piece about Dolly, a woman I taught at Framingham Women’s Prison who became my friend, and who gave me “A Gift From prison.”  Dolly below, pictured as Lysistrata in our prison production by the same name:

Check out my new blogpost about the art prisoners create and post on blogs at:

The second of the three part series.  Boston Daily

Some pretty amazing theatre work is happening outside Chicago at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville.  There, dynamo Meade Palidofsky spearheads a program that serves young incarcerated women. It's an outlet, a vehicle, a chance to experience their creative selves and break out of their bonds through writing and performing songs, poems, stories and scenes inspired by their personal experiences.

In a program called "Fabulous Females," Storycatchers participants meet twice a week joined by teaching artists, volunteers, and members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) form collaborative groups with the girls.  Yes, you read that correctly:  THE CHICAGO SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA! So, imagine you are an incarcerated girl and a professional artist gives you their time– well, it helps — and in spite of all the losses and pain behind bars, the horrendous whirlwind that encompasses them daily, these young women find a supportive structure to create composite characters, outline and create a musical play.

And guess who performs along side them in their showcases? Yep, the Chicago Symphony.  On the website above there is actually a photo of Yo Yo Ma helping the performers.

Storycatchers's newest musical, "Finding Asia," was recently featured in The Chicago Tribune.  It is the story of a girl who is released into her grandmother's care, and after an argument, runs away with her pet rooster to find a new boyfriend whom she met on Facebook.  She discovers that he is not who he pretends to be. . For starters, he's 35. She finally comes to grips with the fact that she must choose between a "high-risk, drug-fueled partying and life within the strict but safe confines of her grandmother's home. Asia chooses her family."

Pianist Myron Silberstein from the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the training ensemble of the CSO composed and arranged the score for himself and three other musicians. They perform live as the cast acts in front of them.

This play reminds me a bit of one I directed at Framingham Women's Prison called Simply Maria by Josefina Lopez. It tells the story of Maria, a young, precocious Latina who comes from Mexico with her family to the U.S.  She aspires to be an actor, and her dream is to go to college — something her parents never had..  She too has to give up something on her journey to find herself, in this case, it is what her parents and the church want for her — a typical American dream. Maria finally realizes that college will help her be free, economically independent of men and lead to the life that she wants, a family and a career.

There is a picture of the cast of Simply Maria and a picture of Meade's Storycatchers is this amazing video of Performing New Lives.

New post on Prisoner Blogs at Boston Daily. What they're saying might surprise you.  This is the first of a three-part series.