March 20, 2012

We had three new participants today. We got them oriented prior to and during warm ups, and we all introduced ourselves to the new people and made sure that everyone knows everyone else’s names. I wanted to introduce them to a new game, and I chose a game that involves a song/chant that the group does together and then calls each other out individually, in rhythm. This group did something that I haven’t seen happen before in other groups – rather than trying to go as quickly as the game requires, they slowed down the tempo as a group to make it easier, without discussing it. This shows their growth as an ensemble and their ability to work as a team.

In response to the new participants’ apparent reservations about playing the game, one participant remarked that she knows that the games, even though many of them seem silly, really accomplish something. She said that, through playing, she has become very comfortable with the group, though she is normally very shy. She says that the games have increased her confidence and she is becoming more “outspoken” in her every day life. The other participants all nodded their heads in agreement.

The first participant to perform her piece today was the one with the learning disability. She is working on a monologue by Emilia in “Othello.” She warned us beforehand that she would stumble on some of the words, and we were all very supportive of her. As she read her piece, various participants assisted her with the words with which she had trouble in a very kind and compassionate way. We broke the piece down bit by bit, and I asked her if she could put some more of Emilia’s attitude into the piece. She improved a bit, but stopped in the middle to apologize for stumbling over words. We all encouraged her to perform again and take the attitude up a notch, and she definitely gave it her all. She did not want to read again, but asked if next time she could sit in a chair while she performed. Of course I said yes, and I am heartened that this means she is really taking ownership of the piece and interpreting it in her own way.

Another participant has chosen Hermione’s monologue at her trial in “The Winter’s Tale.” This is a very powerful monologue by a woman whose life has been destroyed by her husband’s jealousy. This participant showed a solid intellectual understanding of the piece, so we worked with her on connecting with the emotion of it. Taking it piece by piece enabled her to access more of the detail, and when she read again it was much more powerful. She clearly connects with the piece, and I look forward to working with her further on it.

There was a second participant who has chosen Hermione’s monologue. Her interpretation was more quiet and reserved than the other woman’s, and we noticed that she was standing with her hand in her pocket. We encouraged her to embrace the feelings in the piece of anger, sadness and courage… and to keep her hand out of her pocket! She expressed that she was not sure when each emotion comes in and out of the piece, and I assured her that that is something that she will discover as she works on it more. She performed again, and kept her hand out of her pocket, but now fiddled with the bottom of her shirt. She said this is because she is still nervous getting up in front of people, but she knows she will get more comfortable as time goes on.

In the end, we talked about the final performance. Some of the participants will probably not be in prison in November, so we need to take that into account. One of the participants asked why we could not do a “mini-play”, so we explained the group’s reasoning to her, although I assured them that there is still time to adjust the plan if they want to. I told her that we would connect our various monologues and scenes with narration, and that we would all develop the performance together. She felt better after the conversation and said she understood it more. Several of the participants want to include improv in their performance, and we decided that if it fits, we’ll do it.

I am going to continue to introduce new games and exercises, since they really enjoy learning something new every week. I have found a number of great exercises for breathing, and when I asked if they’d like to get into those next week, there was a lot of enthusiasm. This group is growing so much each week, making discoveries about themselves and truly embracing the work they are doing, together and individually. They can only get stronger, as a group and individually. I so look forward to this program every week!

March 13, 2012

After physical and vocal warm ups, we moved on to a quick game to wake up our bodies. After that, I introduced the idea of forming a Trust Circle, in which one person in the center of the circle allows herself to be passed within the circle as she moves off balance, but the participants did not feel comfortable doing it. I asked them if they thought they might want to at a later date, and they said yes. I appreciate that even though they don’t want to do it now, they are willing to consider it in the future. It shows that commitment and willingness to take risks that I so admire in them. We then played a couple of games to explore team work and focus. The team work aspect is working very well, although focus appears to be a bit of an issue. We will keep doing exercises and games to increase that skill.

We moved on to work on monologues. Each participant has chosen the one she likes the best, and they all chose very solid pieces.

The first to go delivered “Friends, Romans, Countrymen…” from Julius Caesar. When she finished, we all applauded, but she was down on herself because she felt that what she had been doing was “fake.” I assured her that that is a normal feeling to have when first working on a new piece, and that if she can “fake it till she makes it” she will soon hit on the truth of the piece. We then broke down the monologue phrase by phrase to glean more meaning – when what Antony says is sarcastic, and when it is not. This made her feel much better and more confident. She performed the piece again, and it was much improved. We then asked her to imagine that she was speaking to a large crowd, with Caesar’s corpse right in front of her, and she improved again. She appeared to feel better than after the first performance, which is great.

The second participant did “To be or not to be…” from Hamlet. At first her interpretation was very presentational, but when we broke the piece down, it began to hit home for her. We discussed being torn between wanting to live and ending it all, and she remarked that she has felt that way in the past and can really relate to it. Once we’d gone through the whole piece, she performed it again. It was better, but she was going way too fast, which a few other participants remarked on. I pointed out to her that there is a lot of punctuation in the piece, which indicates a lot of time for thoughts to fly in. She was struck by this idea and asked if she could perform the piece sitting on the floor. Of course she could! This time she took her time, slouched with her elbow on her knee and her cheek on her hand, and she completely wowed us with the depth and honesty of her interpretation. We all felt the despair and the pain, and we were all moved.

A third participant chose a piece from Othello. This piece is one in which Othello has just discovered that Desdemona, whom he killed, was innocent, and he contemplates the value of his life and the likelihood that he will go to hell. This participant’s first reading was little more than that – a reading. When we broke the piece down, she began to understand it better, and her second reading was more intense and aggressive. She is timid about the closing line, which concludes with “O! O!” I explained to everyone that these O’s indicate an open sound, not necessarily "oh" -  in this case, sounds of grief. I made some of these sounds myself as an example. This participant then performed her piece again, with more energy, commitment, and grief – until she got to the end, when she backed off of the emotion. I asked her if she thought she could get past her nervousness, and she assured me that, with practice, she can.

The last participant to read chose the King’s speech in Hamlet in which he wonders if he can ever repent enough for his crimes, and if he’ll ever be forgiven, even through prayer. Her reading showed a general understanding of the material, and when we broke it down she said it helped – but she also said she did not want to go again. Of course I didn’t make her do it.

The level of dedication and commitment these women are showing is awe inspiring, especially considering none of them have acting experience and most of them have no past knowledge of Shakespeare. I am inspired by their courage and am really looking forward to working with them as they continue to grow.

March 6, 2012

After physical and vocal warm ups, and a few exercises to wake up our bodies,  we moved on to an exercise called “Complete the Image.” Two participants shake hands and then freeze, creating a picture. The rest of the group talked about what the image communicated to us about the situation and the relationship between the two actors. Each person then had a turn to tag someone out and take their place, changing the picture. This exercise got a lot of laughs as the participants showed their growing comfort with each other by doing very silly things. There were two participants who, rather than shaking hands, barely touched their fingers to one another as if they had cooties. Another participant got down on one knee as if she were proposing, while the other made a surprised face and gesture. Everyone agreed that simple things like posture and gestures communicate just as much about situations and relationships as facial expression and language. Since the group expressed a desire to explore improvisation, we played a game to encourage quick thinking and creativity. Everyone showed great enthusiasm and did very well achieving these objectives. There was a lot of laughter, and they thoroughly enjoyed the game.

Since they expressed that they want to spend more time on Shakespeare and less on exercises and games, we settled down to finish going through our monologues. We spent some time discussing the context of each piece before reading it, and then discussed what was going on in each monologue after. Two of the pieces that really stood out to the entire group were a monologue from Brutus in “Julius Caesar” and one from Lady Macbeth in “Macbeth.” They identified with the sarcasm and grief in the first, and were very interested in the complex emotions evident in the second. They were all able to glean a lot of information from these pieces without much help from me, which is probably why they were so enthusiastic about them.

Some of the participants are already gravitating toward certain pieces. One of the participants feels very strongly about the King’s monologue from “Hamlet” in which he expresses his guilt for his crime and wonders if he can gain anything by repentance. She said that she could identify with the guilt and the longing for redemption. Everyone expressed that even with the pieces of which they are not sure of the exact meaning, they like the “flow” and identify with the big ideas. They are eager to delve into these pieces in detail and get up on their feet and perform them.

In reflecting, I apologized for the somewhat tedious nature of spending most of our time going through these pieces and was surprised by several of them commenting that they really enjoyed it. They love analyzing and reading these pieces aloud to one another, and one said she had just as much fun today as she had on the first day. They said even though they were kind of lost going through the pieces by themselves, it helps to have context and explanations. They are eager to get into the emotions of the pieces and are already showing some of that in their readings. One participant is in another group in which they read aloud, and she said her facilitator in that group commented on how strong and “dramatic” her reading had become. This participant attributes that to her growing confidence with Shakespeare and is happy that this program is achieving results that are being incorporated into the rest of her life.

I believe we have now established a core group of ten individuals who are fully committed to the program and are eager to learn and grow. Their enthusiasm is contagious, and they frequently talk about this program to their fellow inmates, which I hope will encourage others to try programs like this and grow themselves.

February 28, 2012

We began with physical and vocal warm ups, and a few exercises to fully engage our bodies. Everyone is becoming more comfortable moving through space, maintaining balance and taking risks. We then moved right on to Shakespeare, per their request. Some of them had memorized the “What a piece of work is a man” piece and were eager to perform it. Others were not memorized but were still eager.

The first participant to perform showed improvement over last week but is still struggling to make her thoughts appear to be spontaneous. We encouraged her to keep trying and suggested that she focus more on her character's objective. Her second performance was stronger.

The second participant to go was the one who, last week, interpreted the piece as being full of anger and frustration. In memorizing, she backed off of the emotion somewhat, and we all encouraged her to take her time with the language and go deeper into her feelings. She improved a little, but it is apparent that she will need more time with whatever piece she chooses to perform in order to integrate the acting with the memorization.

Two other participants, one reading and one memorized, gave very deep and emotional performances of the piece. Everyone enjoyed these immensely and commented on how spontaneous the performances seemed. They were excited about the emotional commitment these two showed and how it illuminated the true meaning of the words.

Finally, our participant who was concerned about her learning disability volunteered to perform. She was fantastic. Not only did she not stumble over many of the words, which was her fear, but the way she expressed herself during the performance was completely appropriate and, I think for some, unexpected. Everyone not only clapped but cheered, had good things to say about it, and she visibly became taller and more confident with each compliment. She then performed again with more fluidity and confidence. This is huge for her as she was so intimidated by the language at first.

Each time someone takes an emotional risk like these three did, the group becomes stronger and trusts each other more. I'm so excited to see the ensemble taking shape like this.

I then handed out packets of the monologues from which they will choose to be part of the final performance. We began reading these to each other, one person at a time. At first some of them seemed intimidated by the language – many of these pieces are more complex than what we’ve been using. But as we read more, they realized that the gists of the pieces are actually fairly easy to understand. They were able to grasp most of what was going on in each piece without any help from me. And the more they read, the more enthusiastic they became. They are very excited about the new material.

Checking in at the end, the participants had some suggestions for how to proceed with the program. They would like to keep the focus on Shakespeare as opposed to exercises - they enjoy the exercises and understand their importance, but they don't want them to be the focus. They want to do more working with one another so everyone can get to know people whom they don't already know from their units. They want to do some improvisation to "get out of their shells," and they want to get better at accepting change through their acting.

I will abide by all of these suggestions in order to make sure that they are getting what they want out of this program. I am learning more from them every week and feel very positive about the group and what they will accomplish. This program is already my favorite part of each week.

February 21, 2012

We began today with physical and vocal warm ups. We did several very physical exercises, and participants discussed their developing awareness of their bodies in space and the importance of focus and energy. They feel that they are on the way! I asked the group if they would rather do more games/exercises or delve into Shakespeare, and they unanimously wanted to move on, so we did. We divided into partners to work on “What a piece of work is a man.” Since there was an odd number, I worked with one of the prisoners. She had written the monologue out for herself and has clearly been working on it all week – every day, as she later confirmed. She was very focused on the emotion of the piece and said she could identify with the despair in it because she has experienced it herself.

One of the participants spoke up and expressed that no one should be laughing at or not committing to the exercises and games. She said that the only way the group could reach its full potential is for everyone to fully commit. We talked about the importance of not laughing at one another, supporting each other and committing even to the silliest exercises because they all have a purpose. We discussed that we need to truly be able to trust each other, as some of the material we will be working with could bring up some of our own emotions, and we all need to be able to feel safe and supported when those emotions arise.

We had one new participant this week who volunteered to read the piece in front of the class first. She gave a very good reading but was hesitant to commit to the emotion of the piece, which we all agreed would get easier the more we worked. Everyone else read the piece as well, and everyone had a slightly different interpretation. Most of them focused on Hamlet’s depression and search for answers, but one in particular had a very different interpretation. She viewed the piece as being full of anger and frustration, and she performed it forcefully with those emotions. Everyone agreed that this interpretation worked just as well as the others. We discussed how we could all interpret a given piece differently, and it wouldn’t necessarily mean that any of us were “wrong.”

Everyone then demanded that I perform the piece again, so I did. They all were very excited by my interpretation and we discussed it. They remarked on how I expressed conflicting emotions and gave time for new thoughts to fly in rather than rushing through the piece. They also commented on my lingering on some words and not others, so we talked about truly embracing the language and how it communicates emotion.

I then asked if anyone would like to perform again, and the first participant said that she did. Her interpretation, after watching everyone else, was much deeper, and she committed fully to the emotions she was experiencing. We discussed her growth.

I then checked in with everyone to see how we’re doing. Everyone is enjoying themselves, which is great. Some of them are still feeling nervous getting up in front of everyone, but they agree that that is getting better. They decided to memorize the piece they’ve been working on for next week to see what it’s like to act without a script in hand. They decided that after next week we should start working on other material. We will work on monologues first and then move on to scene work.