Going forward, we are going to use our newsletter to share stories from artists who make or facilitate art inside and outside prisons. To start, here is a bit of reflection from Jessie Glover, OPAC's lead facilitator.
I am coming to this message still fresh from the experience of directing The Hamilton Project at Marion Correctional alongside Cathy Roma, KUJI Men’s Chorus, and Theatre of Conviction (a program of Healing Broken Circles). This was our response to the groundbreaking musical. I’ve been at this prison theatre thing for over 4 years and I have huge amounts of faith for what is possible when the doors to the arts are opened up in prisons. Even so - I was stunned and shocked by the talent on display in our production, which received 750 audience members on November 8 and 9. The intense, immediate, dynamic performances - the authenticity and craft of the ensemble - the enormous emotional impact on collaborators and audience alike.
I come in to the prison rehearsal room with the same energy, focus, and plans that I come in to any rehearsal room. And our rehearsals are exactly like and nothing like every rehearsal I've ever been a part of! There are unexpected interruptions, departures, and delays. There are frustrations, tiny heartbreaks, and tiny victories. There are enormous slogs where a problem seems insurmountable - and there are breakthrough moments where we really all, collectively, feel that we achieve liftoff. Throughout - it is the persistence and commitment of the ensemble that makes it possible. It is the opportunity to make art that challenges and impacts us all, and transforms us from a group of people into a company.
Comments we've received some guests who came to see the show:
The whole experience was life changing for me. So many moments are etched in my heart forever. From the moment I stepped into that chapel my eyes opened.
In the Q&A I was brought to tears more than once, hearing you share and reflect not only on your internal struggles with playing characters who built systems of oppression, but also on the realization of the humanity of the men who you were playing. I deeply hope that you too discovered/re-discovered/realized/appreciated your own humanity despite a system that may treat you as less than. Watching you, at no point did I see prisoners. I saw talented men with passion and heart and I felt incredibly blessed and proud to have the gift of witnessing your talent.
This was my first experience inside a prison. The aggressive inertness of that vast flat building, surrounded by chain link and barbed wire, staffed by impassive personnel was overwhelming to me at times. The men in the cast soared out of there on the wings of the stories of the founding fathers and mothers SO WELL TOLD.
I will look forward to sharing the reflections of the cast when we have permission to do so. In the meantime - I am deeply thankful for the dedication, vulnerability, focus, team spirit, and craft of the men who made this show. Under difficult conditions the Hamilton Project company showed up relentlessly to the work, protected the collaborative process, and supported each other on and off the stage. They broke the musical open by demonstrating how much more it has to say when refracted through the lens of incarceration. And they created something with meaning, beauty, and integrity.
-Jessie
