Wednesday, December 02, 2015
Theater Troupe Gives Those on the Margins a Front-Row Seat
The New York Times: There are no stage lights. Sets and props are minimal. Unadorned costumes evoke character more than period. The audience sits on all sides in folding chairs that seldom extend more than three rows back. Casting ignores race, gender and age.
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Theatre in the unnatural of places. That is what it used to be. Traveling troupes park on street corners and act. It is nice to see that people are wanting to go back to a form of that. These places that they are going to don’t ever get the chance to see good theatre and not they are. I always like seeing something new and breaking up my usual routine and I’m sure these people feel the exact same way. They get to sit and watch a story happen and relate it to their daily lives. Shakespeare, I think, is the best type of theatre to travel around because it can change and form to its environment and even though it may be hard to understand it still and important values that it portrays. I would love to be able to sit in a show where they are performing in a prison to see how the inmates respond and hear their thoughts afterwards. Is it good because they get to see something different or is it good because they love the story and it makes them think?
I've been following the idea of bringing theater and the arts to prisons for over 5 years now. There are many other organizations that do this sort of work. Prison Performing Arts in St. Louis was highlighted on This American Life a number of years ago, and the story is very similar to this New York Times article. Both Agnes Wilcox (Artistic Director of Prison Performing Arts) and Michelle Hensley seem to have the same philosophy about bringing these performances to prisons and detention centers. These women strongly believe that they are not just bringing theatre into prisons to shove messages down their throats. The performances (largely Shakespearean plays) deeply resonate with people in prison far more than they do at typical theatre companies with audience made up of rich, white, old people. I love seeing that this practice of bringing theatre to people who physically cannot attend is picking up. More and more, I am seeing efforts from other groups around the country to make theatre accessible to those who physically or financially cannot attend. Hopefully, this trend will progress into other areas of need as well. For example, I think it would be great for theatre companies to tour productions to children's hospitals, retirement homes, and rehab centers.
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