The 4th International Shakespeare in Prisons Conference (SiPC4)

Why Shakespeare Now?
Building on three previous conferences (2013, 2016, and 2018), SiPC4 gathered theatre arts practitioners, researchers, and scholars who were engaged with or interested in programs for incarcerated (and post-incarcerated) populations. From November 2020 through April 2021, SiPC4 stimulated discussion through speakers, performances, and workshop sessions offering case studies and best practices within the prisons arts movement. 

Opening Ceremony/The Future is Now: A Social Justice Roadmap
Barry Edelstein (The Old Globe Theatre‘s Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director) and Freedome Bradley-Ballentine (Director of Arts Engagement and Associate Artistic Director) have “embarked on a series of reforms to intensify and accelerate necessary change at all levels” of their institution. In codifying anti-racist practices and principals into their organizational processes, they’ve begun to answer the call for “long overdue change” made by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) theatremakers. The conversation and audience Q&A was moderated by Karen Ann Daniels (The Public Theater‘s Director of Mobile Unit and Co-Producer of the Shakespeare in Prisons Conference). 

I Am Worthy of Yes: Art as a Healing Mechanism in Community 
Beginning with a guided meditation to ground community during an unprecedented time, Mama Nia Wilson of SpiritHouse Inc. offers conference participants a moment to center themselves. The session continues with a discussion between Praycious Wilson-Gay and Mama Nia around the work of SpiritHouse Inc. and their choreopoem community intervention and ritual performance Collective Sun: Reshape the Mo(u)rning. They also discuss community care and what it looks like to use art as a healing mechanism in community. The session finishes with a video about SpiritHouse Inc. and the impact of their work in the Durham, NC community.

Ashley Lucas: Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration
Session 1: An Interview About Prison Theatre Culture
Scholar Karen Hamer interviews Ashley Lucas about her new book Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration (Methuen Drama, 2020). By discussing a range of performance practices tied to incarceration, this book examines the ways in which arts practitioners and imprisoned people use theatre as a means to build communities, attain professional skills, create social change, and maintain hope.

Ashley Lucas: Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration
Session 2: Experiences from Around the World
When conducting research for her book, Ashley Lucas traveled throughout ten different countries to observe as many theatre companies inside of prisons as she could. The formerly incarcerated actors on this panel represent three prison theatre programs in the United States and one in Australia. They discuss what being a part of a prison theatre company has meant to them during and after their time in prison.

Ashley Lucas: Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration
Session 3: Directors Reflect on Their Challenges
Ashley Lucas draws upon her research to speak with the key minds behind prison theatre programs across the world. The directors on this panel represent prison theatre companies in Canada, the United States, Australia, South Africa, and Brazil. They discuss the challenges of making theatre in prisons before and during the global pandemic.

The Actors’ Gang and Avenal State Prison: A Collaborative Approach to Arts in Corrections
Three leaders and pioneers of the Actors’ Gang Prison Project Alumni Network – Richard Loya, John Dich, and Major Bunton – will be sharing a conversation with the visionary warden of Avenal State Prison, Rosemary Ndoh, and her nontraditional team. Richard, John, and Major will discuss their first-hand experience of establishing a class at Avenal State Prison and what it has meant to return as teaching artists.

Live Q&A: Cry Havoc with Stephan Wolfert/DE-CRUIT
Army veteran Stephan Wolfert left a career in the military for one onstage, and went on to create “Cry Havoc,” an extraordinary solo piece that explores the difficulties that our veterans and their families face. Here, Stephan takes questions from the SiPC4 audience on both his work as an actor and his program DE-CRUIT, designed to reintegrate military Veterans using Shakespeare and science.

Antiracism in Practice: Broken Windows Policing
Members of SiPC4 explore differential policing in communities of color, including the implications of the “broken windows” policy theory, the enduring legacy of the 1994 crime bill (most notable as the origin of the term “superpredators”), and what it might mean when we say “defund the police.”

The Body Keeps the Score – Brain, Mind and Body in Healing Trauma
Join us for an in-depth discussion with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, a psychiatrist, researcher, and one of the world’s foremost authorities on post-traumatic stress and its treatment and healing, featuring Curt L. Tofteland (founder of Shakespeare Behind Bars and co-founder of the Shakespeare in Prison Network) and Stephan Wolfert (founder of DE-CRUIT).

Live Q&A: The Body Keeps the Score – Brain, Mind and Body in Healing Trauma
This in-depth Q&A with Dr. Bessel van der Kolk features Curt L. Tofteland, Stephan Wolfert, and members of the 4th International Shakespeare in Prisons Conference.

On Antiracism: Dr. Sylvan Baker 
In a wide-ranging monologue on the interconnectedness of racial oppression and institutions, Dr. Sylvan Baker explores how global phenomenon, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter uprising triggered by the murders of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor, don’t just reveal structural racism, but act as a clarion call for Antiracist practices in all socially engaged arts contexts.