November 27, 2012

The group decided they wanted to explore the characters of Miranda and Ferdinand today. One of them suggested that we begin with Act III Scene I, in which the two profess their love for one another. The first read gave the participants a deeper understanding of the characters and the scene immediately. The one playing Ferdinand realized that he is a “fool in love.” The participant who played Miranda said that she was too, and we talked about how silly this scene with these “stupid teenagers” is. One participant said that she realized that Miranda goes into this scene with a plan to get Ferdinand to marry her and needs his assurance that he really loves her. We decided to read it again with this group, and I encouraged them to go further, and for the two playing the teenagers to make themselves younger. This time the participant playing Miranda became very, very “cute” – something another participant said she didn’t realize she could do. Everyone was very impressed by the change. The participant playing Ferdinand said this reading made her more aware of Ferdinand’s “princely qualities” – that he’s not just a normal teenager, but carries himself with a lot of confidence, and maybe that’s part of what blows Miranda away.

We switched up the parts then, and it was during this reading that the women made a huge discovery. They’d been wondering at what point in the play Prospero shifts from a desire for revenge to that for forgiveness, and what makes him change. They think they have found it in this scene, and the first thing that tipped them off is the difference between the two speeches he makes. One participant remembered what we discussed regarding punctuation, and noted the exclamation points in his last speech of the scene. She said that meant he was excited, and she said it seemed different to her from what had gone before. They discussed that he puts Ferdinand through a trial, partly because he wants to hold him hostage to torment Alonso – and perhaps seeing his daughter fall in love, and Ferdinand behave so honorably, begins to change his mind about what he really wants. “It sets the tone for everything he does after this,” said one. “Love is more important than revenge, and this is where he gets that,” said another.

We talked about how different actors might play Prospero in this scene – how there could be many interpretations, even amongst actors who agree that this is a huge moment for the character. “Shakespeare brings the actor or actress out of you,” said one. She was amazed at how differently people can play one character, and still be “right.”

Nearly everyone left today feeling especially enthused because of their breakthrough with Prospero. They want to focus exclusively on him in the next session. I am ecstatic that they are so excited about a discovery they made as a group, putting a scene on its feet and then discussing it, and with really no input from me. They are taking ownership of the material, working as a team, and enjoying putting together the pieces of the puzzle.

November 20, 2012

Today we decided to begin some exploratory scene work. I asked the group where they wanted to start, and they chose Act III Scene ii, in which Caliban convinces Stephano to murder Prospero and rule the island. There is a lot of funny stuff in this scene, and it’s a general favorite, so I’m glad this is the one they chose. For the purposes of this entry, I will assign each participant a letter, since they rotated between parts.

We began with A playing Stephano, B playing Trinculo, C playing Caliban and D playing Ariel. They decided to begin by walking through the scene to see what would happen. This proved to be beneficial, as they began to have a deeper understanding of exactly what is going on as soon as they put it on its feet. They read with intention for the most part and had a good time. We discussed it afterward and decided that what was needed was more distinct physicality, more precise movement and deeper understanding of the characters. Of course, all of this will come in time. We began by working on movement and speech more consistent with the amount the characters have had to drink before the scene begins, and this informed much of what they were doing immediately. We also stopped and started to discuss why each character says what he says, and what clues in the text give us direction. They made some great progress.

We began to discuss Stephano’s character a bit more in depth. How does he react to Caliban’s suggestion and detailed plan? We know what the text says, but what else is going on, and what does that say about his character? A was intrigued by the idea that although Caliban has obviously thought about this long and hard, this might be the first time Stephano has contemplated murder. How does he make the decision to do it? How much of that has to do with his being intoxicated?

We switched it up then. A played Caliban, E played Stephano, F played Trinculo, and G played Ariel. They took the discoveries the first group made and ran with them, while at the same time putting their own spins on the characters. One of the participants commented that after running the scene a few times, she realized that Stephano holds his liquor better than Trinculo, and that will impact how the scene is played

The women were particularly taken with Caliban’s monologue in this scene, so we decided to take the remainder of our time to explore it a bit. B was the first to read. She showed that she understood it, but she wasn’t very connected. I asked her how she felt, and she said she was preoccupied with how she should look while she performed. I suggested that that is a common way in which actors trap themselves. I reminded her to focus on the objective – what Caliban wants – and how to get it.

This sparked something in E, who jumped up and asked if she could try. Her take was extremely manipulative, which was excellent. One of the other participants suggested that she should “act out” the plan more, perhaps getting an actual book when referencing Prospero’s book. E became visibly frustrated as the other participant elaborated on what she meant, as E was trying to express her opinion but couldn’t seem to find an opening, only able to get out, “But they’re in the woods.” I stepped in, suggesting that the other participant’s idea of being more demonstrative is a good one – I’ve seen actors draw a map in the dirt during the piece, for example – but E was probably right that Caliban wouldn’t have a book in a random place on the island. That seemed to calm everyone down, but we will definitely have to talk more about giving and receiving constructive criticism, since things got kind of tense for a minute.

As we were leaving, one of the women came up to me and said that she had been trying to find things to be thankful for, this time of year being an especially difficult time to be away from family and in prison, and that she wanted me to know that she is very thankful for the program and what we do twice a week. Another participant overheard the conversation and chimed in that she feels the same way. I am very glad that the program is making a positive impact on their lives, and very grateful that they are sharing their experience with me.

November 16, 2012

A couple of new participants joined us today, so we spent some time going over the group guidelines, what we’ve been up to, what we hope to do, and what the “newbies” hope to get out of and bring to the group. Throughout the day, they were very willing to participate in what we were doing, putting their initial shyness aside to have fun and offer opinions and ideas. We began with warm ups, a favorite quick-thinking game, and a very silly circle game to get everyone loosened up and show the new people that it’s okay to be goofy. It was great.

The group then decided to read through the contemporary English summary of The Tempest that I provided them to catch up the new participants. They added details as we went through it.

Then they decided that they wanted to begin casting the show, since many of them already have favorite characters, rather than having everyone experiment with different characters. I prefer to let decisions like this be made by group consensus, especially when they all agree, and they did in this case. So we began to list which person is interested in each character. Some people chose only one, while others left themselves open to fill in anywhere. One woman does not feel drawn to any characters yet. I asked them all to spend some more time with the play and see if they could find at least three characters with which they would be happy. I also asked them to start thinking about how they would cast the play as a whole, since there are multiple people interested in certain characters, and we’ll need to make some decisions as a group.

We’ve been doing a lot of talking lately, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I know that many of them are itching to get back on their feet. I hope that we’ll be able to do that in the next session.

November 13, 2012

Today a woman who has been in the group since April let us know that she’s gotten a job that conflicts with our time together, so she will not be able to continue with the group. She spoke about how much she’s enjoyed her time, about how much she’s learned and what it’s meant to her, and she wished everyone success. “I’ll be in the front row at the show!” I made sure to tell her, and everyone else, how much we've always appreciated her positive attitude, dedication, and patience with everyone else in the group. She also mentioned that another participant, who left the group to try new things, has joined another group in which she performs, and the woman leaving today was struck, watching her perform, by what a difference there is in her now from when she began working with Shakespeare. No one could ever have imagined her performing in front of a group and having so much confidence. We finished reading the play, and we discussed it for a bit. The women identify strongly with Prospero’s dwelling on the past at first, and then deciding to let it go and work on himself. They say that this is the key to healing for many prisoners. They also love his epilogue – that, in the end, it’s “just him” on stage, and it’s so simple. We began experimenting with characters and physicalities, but some members of the group were hesitant to explore the play in this way, and several others had to leave early, so we decided to leave our exploration for the next session when we’ll have more people present.

We played a couple of fun circle games to get us thinking quickly and following our instincts. Then we let the woman who is leaving choose the last game, which was another quick thinking game that they love.

At the end, everyone took turns standing in the center of a circle while we all “uplifted” the person in the center – we used our arms to create an upward motion from the ground while saying, “woosh!” It sounds silly, but it is very energizing and positive. We wanted to go out on a really positive note.

People are gravitating toward certain characters, and it will probably be a challenge to settle on casting as a group. The women have been very open and respectful of each other, though, so I think they can meet the challenge and arrive at decisions with which everyone will be happy.

November 9, 2012

We read through Act Three today, which is much shorter than either of the first two acts, so we got through it pretty quickly. The group decided to try to get through Act Four today as well, but to take a break and play some games first. We played a circle game to loosen up and be silly together, and then we played the improv game “Freeze,” which one of them suggested. They did very well with this game – in fact, it’s one of the few times I’ve played it with a group when we didn’t have much to say at the end about how to improve in terms of making the game effective. Nearly everyone participated and showed how imaginative they can be. The comfort level in the group is increasing, with even the participant who is extremely hesitant to take part in activities taking a turn onstage. We then read through Act Four, which is also fairly brief, and so we had a bit of time at the end for discussion. The women were especially impacted by two things. One was Prospero’s speech in which he says “we are such stuff as dreams are made on.” They really liked how human he seems in this moment, as opposed to what has gone before – he seems more vulnerable here, and we talked about how he arrives at that change. It will take much more discussion to arrive at any group conclusion, but they are intrigued.

The other thing that really struck them was the character of Caliban. They feel that Prospero and Miranda don’t understand him, or try to understand him – that he has human emotions, but doesn’t know how to react to situations except with violence or anger. Some of the women brought up that they know fellow prisoners who are in similar situations – these people have been deeply affected by the circumstances in which they have lived, and it’s not always easy to judge how much of what they say or do is really “their fault.” The women hold that there is a “glimmer of good” in Caliban, which most agreed is true of the people they know who remind them of this character. This is also something that we will explore much more, especially since it is hitting home for so many of them.