October 12, 2012

Today as the women were entering the auditorium, sitting down and chatting, one of them came in, put her stuff down, and said, “I’ve got something to show you.” So we all stopped talking and asked her what was up. She launched into the monologue we began working on last week. She has memorized the first half of it. We all applauded when she stopped, and I asked her what motivated her to do that. “I’m excited about this group,” she said, “And I love this monologue.” Everyone was very impressed by this effort. The first thing we did after warm ups was to finish up our discussion about the Shakespeare Behind Bars documentary. One woman asked the group if they found it “distracting” that some of the men talked openly about their crimes and their personal lives. Nearly everyone chimed in that they did not. One said that she found that sharing their experiences seemed to help them admit responsibility, that it took courage to do it, and that “they are our peers.” Another said it brought them power and honor to admit openly what they had done. We discussed that what one of the men said he hoped to gain by talking about his story was a “balancing of the scales” – that his life could be viewed in its totality, and that perhaps he wouldn’t be judged solely on the worst thing he had ever done.

We then began our work on the monologue. We discussed it in great detail, and then the woman who came in half memorized today volunteered to perform first. She insisted on putting the script down and doing it from memory again. Afterward, the group applauded her but pointed out that she had been focusing on her lines rather than on truly expressing herself. The women who performed in August advised her that this will get better, but it might be a good idea to use the script for now until she has a better handle on what she’s doing with the material. Her next reading was very powerful. I asked her how it felt for her. She said she had read it “how it would be if it was me.” She said she wanted to make us “feel it.” One participant noted that since she slowed down and took her time with the language, it became more meaningful. Because of her pace, she also was able to articulate very well, which people appreciated.

The next to read stood up from her chair (we were sitting in a circle) and walked a bit. She ended up delivering most of the piece out to the house with her back to us, but even so, it was a great reading. She said it felt “awesome,” that she understood it, and that she was able to “ride emotions from the meaning.” One of the participants said that she just wished she had been able to see her face, which led to a brief discussion about the importance of one’s position in relation to the audience – that the eyes are the windows to the soul, and we need to be able to see them.

The last participant to read had a different interpretation than the first two, who found grief and sadness that turned to anger. This participant simmered through the whole piece and then exploded. One of the others made a comment about this difference: “Didn’t we decide she’s just sad at first?” The woman who read, though, said that her interpretation felt more natural – that she was drawing on her own experience in which she is very angry when she grieves. I glanced at the women who have been in the group for a long time, and they were knowingly nodding their heads, so I asked them if they had anything to say. They brought up how it’s okay for actors to have different interpretations of the same material and discussed their own experience of how that worked last time, even in performance.

I was truly impressed today with how deeply the three women who read dove into this piece. They showed no hesitation to fully commit to what they were doing, which is fantastic. I have no doubt that it will not be that way for everyone in the group, but I’m glad that a good number of them will be able to lead by example in this way.

October 9, 2012

We watched the documentary Shakespeare Behind Bars today. The women clearly enjoyed it, commenting as we watched on things they found remarkable or with which they identified. After we finished the movie, we reflected on it with the time we had left. One participant said she found that the process was spiritual, powerful and therapeutic. She thought it was amazing how working with Shakespeare helped the inmates in the documentary “draw pieces together in their lives.” It made this participant think about what her own process “to remorse” has been and will continue to be

Another participant said she thought the group was a great opportunity for the inmates to express their emotions. She could relate to them and remarked on how interesting it was that they formed a sort of family in the group.

One of the women who has been in the group since February told everyone that our group definitely accomplished the things the second participant talked about – an emotional outlet and a feeling of unity. Another said that it seemed like the feeling of unity seemed to be what gave the men the ability to express themselves in ways they could never do elsewhere in prison or possibly even at home.

Another participant said she appreciated that the group was a “platform for completion” – allowing inmates to accomplish a goal for perhaps the first time in their lives. She thought the parallels the men drew between themselves and their characters were interesting, and she also observed that their work gave them a sense of importance. Another chimed in that it wasn’t just importance but self worth, accomplishment and pride.

All of the women expressed that they are even more excited now about their own process, having seen what it can be like in the Shakespeare Behind Bars program. I’m so glad I had the opportunity to watch the film with them. I encouraged them to continue to reflect, and to write down their thoughts if they want to, and we will talk more and do more Shakespeare next time we meet.

October 5, 2012

A number of new participants were added to the program today. We spent a good deal of time introducing ourselves, discussing what everyone wants to get out of the group and what each person brings to the group, and of course going over the group guidelines. Everyone was on board with the guidelines and very enthusiastic about the program. After discussing all of this, we warmed up and played a game. Everyone seemed to enjoy these activities – no one was overly shy, and there was a lot of smiling and laughter.

Following this, we began working on Anne’s monologue from Richard III, which was selected by a participant who has been in the group since the beginning. We read through it twice, and I asked what their first impressions were. Nearly everyone expressed insight into the piece. They identified how emotional it is, how bitter Anne is and how badly she wants revenge. One woman said that Anne wants to take her internal pain and make it external. Another said that the piece echoes something she’s seen in prison: people destroying themselves through bitterness, becoming so consumed with anger that they become the people they hate. Some of them were able to break down the language well, too.

This new group of participants came in with a lot of positive energy and focus. The women already in the group seemed energized by this, and I am very excited to see where the group goes from here.

September 28, 2012

After a warm up and a game, we got down to business. The group decided to keep working with Macbeth and Ariel for now, and then, when we’ve added more people, to move on to a monologue that we looked at last session but nobody chose – Anne’s “Set down, set down your honorable load…” from Richard III. But in the meantime, we went back to the pieces we introduced last time. We began with Macbeth. We broke down the piece again and reviewed the back story. Then one of the participants volunteered to read. We were sitting in a circle, and she got up and walked around the stage while she read. She reflected that she felt that she had been “aimlessly wandering” and wasn’t sure what to do with her hands. We talked about finding reasons to move in the piece, and I assured her that we would work on what to do with our hands. The group remarked that they liked how she had taken her time, and they admired her diction, which was very clear. We discussed clues the text gives us about Macbeth’s emotions.

Then one of the veterans asked if she could perform her piece from last session as an example of how one eventually can become comfortable and not worry about one’s hands, and so forth. This is one of the women who performed Emilia’s monologue from Othello. She performed, hardly missing a beat, even though we haven’t worked on it in a month, and it was great. The newer participants really admired the work she had done – the obvious confidence and stage presence.

Then I asked another veteran present if she wanted to do her piece, which was Antony from Julius Caesar. Of course she did – she loves that piece! I asked her if she thought she might need me to be on book, if she might have forgotten any of the lines. She replied, “Probably, but I’d rather do it by myself.”  She performed the piece with as much power as she ever has – it’s really remarkable how intense and strong her delivery is. The group was thoroughly impressed. They observed that they could see her emotion in her eyes, and that the whole performance projected anger, indignation and power. She said that she was able to do that because the piece touched her deeply, having lost someone herself. She also assured them that she had been worried about her “habits,” too – for her the main thing is talking too quickly, but she’s gotten better at it.

We then moved on to Ariel. The first to read before we broke it down was the participant who’s been with us since February, who has been open about her learning disability. I can hardly believe this is the same person who was so hesitant to read back when we began the program – now she takes every opportunity to read aloud, voice her opinion and perform. She has grown so much.

We ran out of time while we were breaking the piece down bit by bit and will continue during the next session. I think it was a very positive thing for the women who’ve been in the group for awhile to share their previous work with the group, and, if they want to, I will encourage them to do it again when we add new people from now on.

September 25, 2012

After warm ups, a new game and a breathing exercise, I asked the group if they were getting bored with the Hamlet monologue yet. They said that while they like it a lot and have enjoyed working on it, they are ready to move on. I had all of the monologues from last session with me, including the ones we hadn’t worked on, so we decided to divide up into two groups, each group working on one piece, and see what we could come up with. Group A worked with Ariel’s monologue from The Tempest that begins, “You are three men of sin…” This group was made up entirely of women who were in the last session as well. Group B, all “newbies," worked with Macbeth’s “Is this a dagger which I see before me…” I suggested that they start by reading the pieces aloud and talking about their first impressions. While they worked, I went back and forth between the groups to listen and to offer suggestions or information.

Group A’s first impressions were that Ariel is punishing some people, saying, in effect, “Suffer, but don’t die.” They were absolutely correct in this. I gave them some more background on the story and characters and encouraged them to break it down, bit by bit, to glean what more they could.

Group B got that their piece is heavy, that Macbeth is guided by fate, and that he is hallucinating. They were also right on track. I mentioned that something people debate about Macbeth is exactly how much he’s guided by “fate” and how much is his own free will. They were intrigued by that. As with the other group, I suggested that they break it down further.

I went back to Group A, who had found a parallel between the piece and their own situation. “Ariel is saying that even though she’s punishing them, it’s their fault,” said one participant. “It’s like we say in prison: ‘If I hadn’t broken the law, you couldn’t do this to me.’” What a great discovery. I helped them out with a few words they didn’t know and then encouraged them to get on their feet and “perform” it together, since there are multiple characters in the scene.

Group B, meanwhile, identified a shift in Macbeth from the beginning to the end of the piece. They found that, while at the beginning he is hallucinating, wracked with guilt and unsure, by the end he is completely determined. As with the other group, I asked them to begin “performing” the piece to find some more of the emotion underlying it.

After taking some time to do this, we all came together. Group B sat in the audience, while Group A stayed onstage. I asked them to perform without giving any back story to Group B, so we could see what could be gotten out of the piece that way, each participant in the group taking a turn reading the monologue. From the first reading, Group B understood that the other characters were scared and confused, that they were all on an island, that their swords were heavy, and that Ariel was invisible. That’s a lot to get out of a first reading when one is not familiar with the entire play! The next participant who read committed much more to the emotions in the piece, so that Group B gleaned that she was angry, that there was a storm, and that this was pay back. The third participant to read went very slowly, and Group B understood more of the language this time. They got that these were sinners and that the spirit was trying to make them crazy.

Group B then gave it a shot. The first reading gave Group A the impression that Macbeth was going to try to kill someone with a dagger but was conflicted and questioning himself. From the next reading, they understood further that maybe Macbeth was imagining the blood on the dagger, envisioning what he wanted but hadn’t yet done, and was confused about where the dagger came from and if it was real. The third reading didn’t give them much more information, but they definitely got a sense of confusion from her.

They really enjoyed this exercise and got a sense from it of how, even with minimal rehearsal, one can get the gist of these pieces. They all agreed, though, that more rehearsal and performing them in context would help a great deal.