The New York Times: The cast was strip-searched before boarding the bus to their show. The leading man was shackled so tightly that he performed with abrasions on his wrists. And the moment the men finished their bows and the house lights came up, they had to slip out of costume and back into green prison uniforms.
3 comments:
Wow wow wow. This article was just so incredible to read. After watching the documentary about Khalif Browder’s tragic story of prison, I’ve had on my mind the disgusting disservice of America’s prison system on those serving time (although, I think it’s necessary to note there is the difference that Browder was never proven guilty). I think that America has seriously missed the note on the correctional aspect of correctional facilities, and I think that this program has the chance to do a phenomenal job at making prisoners feel like people and give them a chance to succeed when they are released. In fact, I have always been interested in volunteering with prisons in some way, and I think that working with programs like this would be an incredibly rewarding experience. I’ve attached some of my favorite, stand-out quotes from the article.
I also think it’s important to acknowledge a victim’s family coming out against this, saying they don’t believe it’s right for their family member’s murderer to get to tour with this play. I think it’s necessary for their viewpoint to be heard, and though I don’t understand the horrible grief they suffer with, I think what they had to say is a strong counterpoint.
Advocates for prison arts — who now include many current and former inmates — say that learning to paint or performing a monologue can imbue humanity and purpose into the bleakness of life behind bars.
The shackling system that pinned their arms to their chests for the ride was called a “black box.” The men said they had not realized that was the same name for a simple theater space.
“To build something like this in prison — you have no idea of what it means,” said Vern Moter, 51, who is serving 24 years for fraud and was part of the stage crew.
Several of the inmates said the play allowed them to feel human again. They marveled at being allowed to shake hands with the state officials, lawyers and arts advocates who attended the show.
First off, the first paragraph’s tone seems to greatly contradict the rest of the article. With the exception of the section about the victims family, the article seems to be about how arts programs humanize inmates, however it starts with talking about how inmates are treated cruelly. Despite these great programs, so few people are able to be apart of them. There are only 350 programs nationwide. Arts programs are an interesting part of the conversation of privatized prisons, since the goal of prison privatization is to make prisons cheaper to run and arts programs are expensive. I was interested to know that the inmates were part of the crew as well as cast. The resourcefulness of the inmates making props and costumes shows how devoted people are to their show and this program. I hope the success of this program allows it to continue and expand to more prisons and help more people.
Prison plays are such an interesting concept to me. I appreciate how it gives convicted inmates a chance to do something other than their standard activities. Theatre is an excellent activity which promotes interaction and communication between inmates. In addition, it gives them a creative outlet other than the standard artforms they have access to. Touring with a prison play adds an incredibly difficult challenge of transportation. Reading into the security measures the guards go to in order to get the inmates from location to location was somewhat dumbfounding. However, it also gives me an appreciation for these guards, because they are taking the time to do these in-depth searches just so they can let the inmates tour with their performance. Touring with the prison play doesn’t have to happen, but the guards are willing to go through all the efforts of security just to give the inmates a chance to get out and show off what they’ve been working on. What surprised me most about these articles, however, was the images. It’s crazy to look at these inmates, because they look like regular people. None of them look like the stereotypical “jail-hardened” inmates, even if they’ve already been serving more than twenty years for a double homicide.
Post a Comment