Session Six: Week 17

Tuesday

Tonight we were given the opportunity to see a performance by one of Prison Creative Arts Project’s groups, and we took it!

Before the program began, we facilitators took seats near some members of our ensemble. The conversation quickly turned to our rehearsal script – we need to make the first round of cuts so that we can print the copies we’ll use until June. One of the women had brought her book, and I gave her mine so she could transfer her cuts from one to the other. She and another ensemble member have split the play down the middle – one made cuts to the first half, and the other to the second half. They are finding it difficult to cut because a lot of the banter is very tight. The second ensemble member, who has been in the group for several years, remarked that it was challenging for her, too, even though she is very skilled at cutting, because she doesn’t know the play as well as she would like. We know that we will make more cuts as we work through it together.

Several ensemble members were excited to tell us that they’ve discovered “The Hollow Crown” on PBS, which is a series about the Wars of the Roses. I am definitely going to check it out!

The PCAP performance was a great experience. Women from both the creative writing and theatre workshops performed, showing great skill and ingenuity. When some of the women were clearly nervous, the audience cheered them on – it was one of the most encouraging, positive audiences of which I’ve ever been a part.

After the performance, an ensemble member who wrote and produced an original play at the prison called me over to a friend who’d been in the performance. This friend then sang a couple of songs that our ensemble member wrote, and another woman performed short snippets from the play. This ensemble member has really come into her own as an artist – it seems like there’s nothing she can’t do!

Friday

Tonight we had a small group due to some miscommunications – a number of people were under the impression that our meeting had been canceled. Even so, we had a positive evening.

We took our time with our check in. A couple of women shared that they’d had some wonderful and rare visits with family members – very welcome during the holidays, which can be very dark for incarcerated people. We also reflected on the PCAP performance, with all of us saying how much we’d enjoyed it.

At one point during our check in, an ensemble member in her early twenties referred to people in their sixties as being “old.” A woman in our group who IS in her sixties jokingly corrected her, saying, “oldER.” Later, during a theatre game, the latter woman got the first woman out and teased her, saying, “That’s what happens when you’re older!” We all had a good laugh at that.

The game that we played involves sitting in a circle, asking a question to the person next to you, who does not answer but turns to the person next to her and asks another question, and so on. It’s a challenging game, great for teaching us to think quickly and trust our instincts. I won the first round, and a very competitive ensemble member won the second round. The group then decided that the two of us should face off. I jokingly start dancing and snapping my fingers, ala “West Side Story,” and we circled each other for several minutes, peppering each other with questions, until I finally folded. It was hilarious.

As we sat together, the conversation shifted to some personal issues some members of our group have been having. One of the women remarked that often all one has to do when faced with a challenge is to ask for help. Several others pointed out that there are many women in prison who have no one to whom they can go. The first woman insisted that there is always someone who will be willing to help. Others said that first one needs the self-worth and courage to do it, with one woman admitting that she simply has too much pride to ask for help in most situations.

Although we didn’t work on any Shakespeare tonight, it was a good meeting. We need all the positive energy we can muster this time of year. We’ll get rolling on our play again soon

Session Six: Week 16

Tuesday

Tonight I distributed our cast list as people came into the room. Fortunately, everyone was cast in a role that was on her list, so we did not have any drama or tension.

One woman who auditioned for Richard and Buckingham breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that she had been cast as the latter. She sat next to me and said how glad she was not to have been cast as Richard. I asked her why she had volunteered for the role if she didn’t really want it. She said that she had raised her hand because there was only one other person who was interested in the role, and she felt it would mean more to her if she earned the role than if it was handed to her. But then she thought, “I have a 50% chance that I could get this. Oh, crap! I had ten lines last year. But I guess [the woman who played Othello] didn’t think she could do it last year, and she did. So I guess I could, too. But I really just wanted [the woman cast as Richard] to feel like it was something she’d worked for.” What an extraordinary gesture!

Another woman who had been quite vocal about wanting to play Margaret wound up cast as Elizabeth, her second choice. I was a bit concerned that this would be upsetting to her, but she told me that, after the audition, she realized that she actually preferred Elizabeth, and it would be a better role for her.

We gathered for check-in, and afterward we discussed our game plan for the next phase of the program. The first order of business is to do a first round of cuts to the play – we need to perform in 90 minutes or less, so we always end up cutting quite a bit. The woman playing Richard, who played Othello last year, said, “This year I’m gonna work super duper hard to be pro-cuts. ‘Cause I have way too many lines.” Last year she was very resistant to cuts because she loved the language so much, and it’s good to know that she’s gained perspective and will be more flexible this time around. Another woman, who is our resident cutting queen, offered some advice to the group: “Remember that you’re cutting for your audience. If we have trouble understanding it, they probably will, too.” We decided that everyone who is comfortable making cuts will bring them on Friday so that I can gather them and have a bound rehearsal script for us very soon.

We also discussed how we want to explain the history of the play to our audience – it’s very hard to understand the relationships and much of the plot without prior knowledge. Some of us favor a spoken prologue, while others think a visual guide would be better. We’ll keep discussing it – we always figure out how to overcome these challenges, and I know the ensemble will come up with a great solution.

The next topic of conversation was costumes. The group is mulling over how close to period we should go. Usually we do a hybrid modern/period mix of costumes, but there is potential this year to stick more to period pieces, with the prison’s approval. This is something we’ll continue to talk about over the next month or so until we need to make our decision.

One of the woman gave a little pep talk to the group, reminding everyone that, now that we’re in rehearsal, it’s important for everyone to behave well in order to remain in the group and have consistent attendance.  We wrapped up playing a few games and left feeling good about where we are in our process.

Session Six: Week 15

Tuesday

Tonight we continued working on our audition sides.

The first woman to rehearse chose King Edward’s monologue, in which he expresses anger and regret at the execution of his brother. She was mesmerizing, performing with the absolute appropriate emotions, lots of vocal variety, and the “chewing on the words” that we strive for. We were all completely wowed by her work – she is often quiet and has trouble reading aloud, stumbling over words, so it was clear that she’d worked really hard on this piece.

The next woman to perform read Richmond’s monologue rallying the troops. Her first read felt natural to her, and we asked her to add more painting of pictures and really striving to get us on her side. “It’s like Sun Tzu’s ‘moral law’ in The Art of War,” she mused. Before she read again, I encouraged the ensemble to participate – to resist joining her until she had us convinced. This worked very well, with all of us eventually jumping to our feet, cheering, and even pounding on the tables with enthusiasm. The woman performing reflected that it felt very good to connect with her audience in that way – that the noise got her blood pumping and even made her feel primal.

Another woman who knows she will be absent for our audition day decided to do hers this evening. She read first for the Second Murderer. She is a natural with the language, and the scene worked very well. She then read the Richmond monologue, and we all agreed to participate the same way we had with the first woman who read it. She performed with great gusto, and we all ended up on our feet, shouting and pounding the tables again. We all applauded at the conclusion of the piece. “Thanks,” she joked, “I’ll be here for a couple more years.”

Three others then volunteered to read a side featuring Queen Margaret, Queen Elizabeth, and the Duchess. The first read clearly demonstrated that they understood what they were reading, but it lacked emotional commitment. One of the women admitted to the group that she had been scared – that it had been her first time doing anything like this. The whole group erupted in applause and praise for her. We then worked a bit on finding that emotional connection – whether through Stanislavksy’s “magic as if” or through a bit of Chekhov technique through which I guided the group. They read again and were more emotionally grounded. The woman reading Elizabeth asked if it was okay that she drew on her own experience to get at the character’s grief, to which I responded that this is an okay crutch to use in rehearsal, but that, for one thing, she needs to keep herself safe and withdraw from scene work if it ever starts feeling dangerous, and for another, that she will need to let go of that in performance so she is telling her character’s story and not her own.

It was a very productive, warm meeting. Everyone is clearly preparing for auditions and casting, and, while there is competition for some of the roles, I haven’t gotten a sense of the kind of drama that has colored the past few casting processes. We’ll see if we can sustain our current positive feeling.

Friday

Tonight during check-in, several people shared that they were nervous about auditions – a couple of people even said they might forego their auditions out of anxiety. While I made sure everyone knew that auditions were not required, an ensemble member who was in the group last year encouraged everyone to push through that fear. “We’re all in it together,” she reminded us.

Everyone present ended up participating, either by auditioning, reading with another ensemble member, or both. Everyone had clearly worked on their sides – readings were intelligent and thoughtful. After one woman read for Margaret, the woman who volunteered to be her “other” remarked, “I think she did good because I feel like I hate her now!”

Another woman was clearly very nervous to read Richard’s opening soliloquy. She wants the part very badly. As she entered the playing area, another woman said, “Find your center… do your Frannie!” The whole group, including the woman, laughed, and she did her Frannie impression, which is hilarious. This seemed to calm her a bit, and she had a great reading.

Then the woman who read King Edward so beautifully on Tuesday read the piece again. “You’re awesome!” said another ensemble member. “How come you don’t read more often in class?” The woman shrugged, saying, “I don’t know.” The first woman said, “Well, I’m gonna start bugging you!”

A woman who had expressed extreme anxiety about auditioning then volunteered to read. Everyone cheered as she stood and walked into the playing area. After she read, a longtime ensemble member said, “You don’t even seem like you have anxiety!” And then she read again!

We wrapped up as people cast their votes via anonymous ballots and decided to end early since a number of people had to leave early anyway. I will be tallying up the votes this weekend and distributing a cast list on Tuesday.

Session Six: Week 14

Tuesday

Tonight we conducted an oral interview with the group for our case study. I can’t publish the interviews here, but they were extremely insightful.

We also briefly discussed auditions and casting again. The group is in agreement on our method, sides have been distributed, and we will begin working with them on Friday.

Friday

Tonight one of the women pulled me aside to talk about concerns she is having about her daughter. She has a life sentence and is trying to cope with feelings of helplessness where her child is concerned. It hit home for me, as a mother, very hard. She apologized for “burdening” me, and I reassured her that it is no burden – that I’m there to listen to and support everyone in the group.

We spent our evening rehearsing the sides we’ll use for our auditions. We focused on the basics – identifying what the character wants (the objective) and how to go after it (the tactics). We also tried to find appropriate movement and delved slightly into vocal techniques.

Two different women read the scene in which Clarence meets Richard on his way to the Tower. Their interpretations were vastly different. The first played him as trusting in his brothers to do the right thing, while the second interpreted him as being feisty and angry. Both of these takes worked on their feet. It will be very interesting to see where we end up once the role is cast.

One of the women showcased an impression she does of me when I’m about to do a monologue. That got a lot of laughs. I do some kind of weird acting prep, and I don’t hold back in order to give others “permission” to do whatever they need to do. It is funny, though, and she does the impression very well. At first, this ensemble member, working on Richard’s opening soliloquy, was very focused on objects in the room that she was miming. We encouraged her to let go of that. Another longtime ensemble member reminded her not to judge her character, and I asked her to work with the objective of getting us (the audience) on her side. Her subsequent reading was electrifying. Whether she is cast in the role remains to be seen, but it was a very strong performance.

The woman who read Richard had envisioned the scene taking place in a bedchamber, but, because Clarence enters with an armed guard, en route to imprisonment, it would be tough to justify the scene happening in a setting like that. One of the women said she envisioned the curtain opening at the top of the show to reveal Richard sitting in a chair. Some in the group feel that that would work and could still be set outside.

This led to a brief conversation about the locations in the play. Strangely, there are no locations noted in the “No Fear” copy of the play that the women are working with, although there are in the Arden version that I always have with me. We talked about changing locations, and even time period, and what the perks and the pitfalls of that can be.

We ended by deciding to continue rehearsing sides on Tuesday, with auditions and casting next Friday.

Session Six: Week 13

Tuesday

Tonight before we began, an ensemble member excitedly told me that she’d found a biography of Henry VIII and was excited about how much of the history she already knew from working on this play. She was fairly vocal about her excitement in the day room of her unit, and she said that another person in the room thought it was weird and put her down to the extent that she actually left the room crying. Another ensemble member and I reassured her that, yes, what we do and what we get excited about can seem odd to some people, but we need not let that get us down. We’re just interested in different things, and that’s okay!

During check in, one woman stated that even though we’d said we were going to try not to talk about politics, she just couldn’t keep in her fear and anger about the current political climate. The air in the room was one of trepidation – it seemed like no one quite knew what to say or do. I thanked her for her honesty and said that it’s impossible that she’s the only person in our group who feels that way. I reiterated that our group needs to be a safe space for the entire ensemble, which is why we try to eschew politics, but that some things will inevitably creep in, especially given current events. I encouraged everyone to continue to do the good work that they are doing on themselves – the goal of our program is for the people in it to become empowered, and when they do that, the positive outcomes that they experience as individuals ripple out to those around them – and that is an impact that they can all make in times that may make them feel powerless, especially being incarcerated.

We decided to continue working scenes in our circle, and the first person to volunteer asked to read the Richard/Anne scene with Kyle – but with her playing Anne, a major departure because she has a very hard time identifying with women. As this was her first time reading a female part, I asked everyone to make sure to be completely supportive – she was making herself very vulnerable and really trusting us. There were no snide comments and no giggling, and the group gave her a good amount of time in the scene before tagging her out.

We moved onto Act Four, scene four, which is long and great for this style of scene work. Nearly everyone tagged in to the scene at some point, and there was a lot of generosity in terms of the length of time each person was given in the scene. There were varying degrees of emotional commitment, but the participation was great. One hilarious moment was when a woman tagged in as Richard, then turned the page and realized the next line was the beginning of a huge monologue, turned to me and said, “No!” in mock horror. We had to pause to laugh.

That scene with Elizabeth is really something else – the group loves to work with it and discuss it. One woman who is rather quiet was particularly powerful as Elizabeth – there was something about her soft voice speaking so forcefully that was jarring and intense.

Reactions to the scene vary – some people think Elizabeth is just going along with Richard about his marrying her daughter, while others think she’s being manipulated. Everyone, however, is disgusted by the way Richard talks to her – we were particularly revolted by the idea of replanting her dead sons in her daughter’s womb. The phrase “nest of spicery” appears to be the new “Twerks-berry,” and we riffed on that for a while. All in all, we are aghast at Richard’s choices in this scene – who talks like this? It will be interesting to continue to work on once we’re cast.

We took some time to talk about that casting process before we left. We’ve decided to try yet another method – this year, I will be pulling sides (short pieces of scenes) from the play and providing them to the ensemble in packets to study. Everyone will let us know how they prefer to be cast (at least three roles to try to avoid total disappointment), and then after two weeks or so, everyone will audition and vote anonymously.

I’m hopeful that this will work well. The first three seasons, we were able to cast just by discussing things as a group, but in season four that didn’t work well and led to some infighting and tension. Last year’s pseudo-auditions (really just more circle scene work) and anonymous voting were undermined by some behind-the-scenes politicking, which again led to problems. We’ve asked that no one campaign for themselves or anyone else this year to try to avoid that. We’ll see how it goes!

Friday

We took some time tonight to do the first written interview of our case study. No one refused to answer the questions, but several people commented on how challenging it was – the questions are very open ended. “I don’t usually share this stuff,” said one woman after being reassured that no one will see these except for SIP staff. “You’re lucky I’m in therapy – I’m able to answer these questions pretty quickly!”

We then went through the list of characters, and everyone interested in each role raised her hand. We didn’t have much time left, then, so we played Freeze till we ran out of time.

During this game, the officer at the desk came to observe us through the window in the door. When I glanced out at her, she was laughing. One woman was the last to leave with me, and when we got to the desk, the following exchange occurred:

Officer:    I had no idea you were such a performer!
Frannie:    She is SUCH a good actor.
Inmate:    I love Shakespeare!
Officer:    Well, good job in there.
Inmate:    Maybe you can come see the play this year.
Officer:    I’d love to!

This is one of the effects we hope to achieve through our work in this program – the positive changing of prison culture, one person at a time. This officer and inmate have a new way to connect on a human (and not at all inappropriate) level, and they both feel pride in the program, which is part of their shared community. We didn’t witness or hear about interactions like this for the first few years of the program, but now that it’s been around longer, we observe more and more of this. It’s really thrilling.