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.

November 2, 2012

Today as we were settling in, one of the participants shared that she had been so taken by some lines in The Tempest that she had written them in a letter to her daughter. These lines rang true to her because she has felt this way in her own life.  

Miranda:

                                    Alack, what trouble

Was I then to you!

 Prospero:

                                    O, a cherubim

Thou wast that did preserve me! Thou didst smile,

Infuséd with a fortitude from heaven,

When I have decked the sea with drops full salt,

Under my burden groaned; which raised in me

An undergoing stomach, to bear up

Against what should ensue.

We circled up and took our time reading through the second act of the play. The women especially enjoyed the first scene with Stephano, Trinculo and Caliban. They are excited to start exploring it, but decided they want to wait until we’ve read the entire play together before putting anything on its feet.

Some of them are beginning to strongly identify with certain characters, and we talked about that a bit. We ended the day by playing an improv game meant to encourage quick thinking. It was a challenge, but they had a good time with it.

October 26, 2012

Today we began reading The Tempest. We are taking our time, stopping whenever necessary to make sure everyone is following what’s going on, as well as getting details about the characters and their relationships. The women will be trying different roles for a little while until we start to get a good grasp on the characters and decide as a group how we want to cast the show. They are really enjoying it so far. We got through Act One and then felt the need to get up and move. We played an improv game that has to do with a doctor guessing patients’ ailments, and they did a great job and were very imaginative. Many of them made very interesting choices. We’ll definitely revisit this game in the future.

I think this is how it will go for a bit, unless the women decide they want to approach the material differently – we’ll spend most of the meeting time reading through the script and discussing it, and then we’ll get on our feet and explore different skills through improv. This could change, though. I’m always open to their input.