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This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam ” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam ” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke’s cycle of rebirth to the play “Slam”, tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of “Slam, ” the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters ’ redemptive experience of poetry within the play and the actors ’ cathartic ex...
International Journal of …
The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation ... more The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation through the Arts (RTA) on the attitudes and behavior of participants. A total of 65 prisoners participated. Three treatment groups, a total of 36 participants including Beginners, ...
This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional ... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke’s cycle of rebirth to the play “Slam”, tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of “Slam,” the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters’ redemptive experience of poetry within the play and the actors’ cathartic experi...
The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation ... more The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation through the Arts (RTA) on the attitudes and behavior of participants. A total of 65 prisoners participated. Three treatment groups, a total of 36 participants including Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced theatre group members, were matched with 29 prisoners with no experience in the theatre program. All participants completed personality measures on anger and coping at two intervals before and after the stage production of the play, Slam. Institutional records on pre-and post-production disciplinary infractions, program participation and reclassification upgrades were examined as a measure of the behavioral component. Findings revealed that behavioral differences between the Beginner RTA group and the Controls were not significant; however, in a three-group comparison, when the RTA Advanced and Intermediate groups were combined into the experienced group and compared with the Control ...
Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who H... more Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. The play’s theme of the oppression of women of color is used to encourage performers to confront social and cultural questions concerning the sexual and physical abuse of women. The inmate performers and the inmate audience bond in a common catharsis during two crucial scenes, resulting in the potentially liberating realization that society’s prevailing “rape myths” are false. The psychodramatic theatre process is tested for providing avenues of new thoughts and perspectives for female inmates seeking new paradigms of society and themselves.
The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review, 2011
Communication Education, 2001
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1162 105420403321249992, Mar 30, 2006
The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with ... more The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with and for inmates of Sing Sing, a high-security prison north of New York City. The play, a collaboration developed in a workshop with playwright Barbara Quintero, portrays the strategies prisoners consciously or unconsciously use to survive the experience of incarceration.
Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who H... more Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. The play's theme of the oppression of women of color is used to encourage performers to confront social and cultural questions concerning the sexual and physical abuse of women. The inmate performers and the inmate audience bond in a common catharsis during two crucial scenes, resulting in the potentially liberating realization that society's prevailing "rape myths" are false. The psychodramatic theatre process is tested for providing avenues of new thoughts and perspectives for female inmates seeking new paradigms of society and themselves.
TDR/The Drama Review, 2003
The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with ... more The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with and for inmates of Sing Sing, a high-security prison north of New York City. The play, a collaboration developed in a workshop with playwright Barbara Quintero, portrays the strategies prisoners consciously or unconsciously use to survive the experience of incarceration.
This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of "Slam" directed at the Sing Sing Cor... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of "Slam" directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke's cycle of rebirth to the play "Slam", tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of "Slam," the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters' redemptive experience of poetry within t...
Communication Education, 2001
The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2013
A prison theatre workshop at Bayview Correctional Facility (BCF) in Manhattan combines improvisat... more A prison theatre workshop at Bayview Correctional Facility (BCF) in Manhattan combines improvisational techniques, play rehearsal, and performance. Ten women participate for eight weeks as cast and crew in a production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by African American playwright Ntozake Shange. The characters reflect different types of women in critical situations, breaking the long held silence marginalized women feel due to oppression. Written in poetic verse, scenes dramatize rites of passage, sisterhood and female sexuality, abandonment, poverty, abuse, rape, and unrequited love providing many archetypal roles that resonate with the actors and prison audience. This article is a descriptive account using both narrative and journal entries written contemporaneously during the production, focusing on the obstacles of mounting a theatrical production within a prison setting and on the challenges of working with female offenders. Archetypical roles from Robert Landy's extensive work in drama therapy are referenced to reflect the function and diversity of role types in the drama and to illustrate how the artistic work expands the diminished life roles of women in prison. Thoughts on Agusto Boal's theory regarding invitational theatre, within the setting of a prison, are discussed.
This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam ” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam ” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke’s cycle of rebirth to the play “Slam”, tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of “Slam, ” the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters ’ redemptive experience of poetry within the play and the actors ’ cathartic ex...
International Journal of …
The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation ... more The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation through the Arts (RTA) on the attitudes and behavior of participants. A total of 65 prisoners participated. Three treatment groups, a total of 36 participants including Beginners, ...
This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional ... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of “Slam” directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke’s cycle of rebirth to the play “Slam”, tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of “Slam,” the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters’ redemptive experience of poetry within the play and the actors’ cathartic experi...
The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation ... more The purpose of the study was to examine the impact of the prison theatre program, Rehabilitation through the Arts (RTA) on the attitudes and behavior of participants. A total of 65 prisoners participated. Three treatment groups, a total of 36 participants including Beginners, Intermediates and Advanced theatre group members, were matched with 29 prisoners with no experience in the theatre program. All participants completed personality measures on anger and coping at two intervals before and after the stage production of the play, Slam. Institutional records on pre-and post-production disciplinary infractions, program participation and reclassification upgrades were examined as a measure of the behavioral component. Findings revealed that behavioral differences between the Beginner RTA group and the Controls were not significant; however, in a three-group comparison, when the RTA Advanced and Intermediate groups were combined into the experienced group and compared with the Control ...
Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who H... more Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. The play’s theme of the oppression of women of color is used to encourage performers to confront social and cultural questions concerning the sexual and physical abuse of women. The inmate performers and the inmate audience bond in a common catharsis during two crucial scenes, resulting in the potentially liberating realization that society’s prevailing “rape myths” are false. The psychodramatic theatre process is tested for providing avenues of new thoughts and perspectives for female inmates seeking new paradigms of society and themselves.
The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review, 2011
Communication Education, 2001
Http Dx Doi Org 10 1162 105420403321249992, Mar 30, 2006
The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with ... more The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with and for inmates of Sing Sing, a high-security prison north of New York City. The play, a collaboration developed in a workshop with playwright Barbara Quintero, portrays the strategies prisoners consciously or unconsciously use to survive the experience of incarceration.
Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who H... more Female inmates of a medium-security correctional facility perform a play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. The play's theme of the oppression of women of color is used to encourage performers to confront social and cultural questions concerning the sexual and physical abuse of women. The inmate performers and the inmate audience bond in a common catharsis during two crucial scenes, resulting in the potentially liberating realization that society's prevailing "rape myths" are false. The psychodramatic theatre process is tested for providing avenues of new thoughts and perspectives for female inmates seeking new paradigms of society and themselves.
TDR/The Drama Review, 2003
The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with ... more The artistic director of Rehabilitation through the Arts recounts making Voices from Within with and for inmates of Sing Sing, a high-security prison north of New York City. The play, a collaboration developed in a workshop with playwright Barbara Quintero, portrays the strategies prisoners consciously or unconsciously use to survive the experience of incarceration.
This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of "Slam" directed at the Sing Sing Cor... more This essay is an analysis of a stage adaptation of "Slam" directed at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in which forty inmates participated as actors, poets, stagehands and production crew. The first half of the essay applies Kenneth Burke's cycle of rebirth to the play "Slam", tracing the journey of the central character from his incarceration as a drug dealer to his transformation as prophet through the redemptive quality of performance poetry. The second half of the essay examines the impact of the production on the inmate cast and crew as they experience, through rehearsal and performance, the redemptive quality of theater, by applying the Burkean cycle to the creative process of the prisoners involved in performing the play for fellow inmates and invited guests. In the case of "Slam," the identification between audience and performer and actor and role, and the reflexivity between the characters' redemptive experience of poetry within t...
Communication Education, 2001
The Arts in Psychotherapy, 2013
A prison theatre workshop at Bayview Correctional Facility (BCF) in Manhattan combines improvisat... more A prison theatre workshop at Bayview Correctional Facility (BCF) in Manhattan combines improvisational techniques, play rehearsal, and performance. Ten women participate for eight weeks as cast and crew in a production of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf by African American playwright Ntozake Shange. The characters reflect different types of women in critical situations, breaking the long held silence marginalized women feel due to oppression. Written in poetic verse, scenes dramatize rites of passage, sisterhood and female sexuality, abandonment, poverty, abuse, rape, and unrequited love providing many archetypal roles that resonate with the actors and prison audience. This article is a descriptive account using both narrative and journal entries written contemporaneously during the production, focusing on the obstacles of mounting a theatrical production within a prison setting and on the challenges of working with female offenders. Archetypical roles from Robert Landy's extensive work in drama therapy are referenced to reflect the function and diversity of role types in the drama and to illustrate how the artistic work expands the diminished life roles of women in prison. Thoughts on Agusto Boal's theory regarding invitational theatre, within the setting of a prison, are discussed.