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Helen Morgan is a writer and editor with a background in human rights and migration issues. She is an associate editor at Devex, the media platform for the global development community, focusing on multimedia storytelling and video production for thematic and issue-focused digital series. Currently based in Barcelona, Spain, she has previously written for a variety of international publications while living and working in Buenos Aires, New York and Shanghai.
The Power Of A Theater Performance In Prison
An acting program in Sing Sing Correctional Facility is helping inmates prepare for life on the outside. The non-profit Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) theater program is run with the support of 40 volunteers who teach theater and other arts classes in New York prisons. And last May they put on a production of "Of Mice and Men", as described and discussed in this article at Rolling Stone.
The program is not just intended as a recreational exercise, but is designed to encourage introspection. It aims to teach men the life skills they might not have learned before they were incarcerated.
There are certainly challenges: putting on a play is a complex process at the best of times, but it can take around three months for the RTA volunteers to get clearance from the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS). But the outcomes are worth it.
"When you’re involved in the play, you’re not in prison anymore. We loved it when the production was on because for three months, it’s like you’re out of prison,” said Charles Moore, a former inmate and previously a production manager during an RTA production. He goes on to say:
“We were deemed the bottom of the barrel, if you will. But all of us working together, producing such magical shows such as the production that we put on, helps us to know that we are more than just our crime. We are more than what society says we are.”
A study produced by John Jay College of Criminal Justice in 2011 found that the people involved in RTA’s theatre program had fewer and less severe infractions. They also demonstrated better behaviour, as well as anger management, than a control group: “Theater may be unique in facilitating institutional adjustment and well-being through the expression of emotions, the rehearsal of life roles and the gratification of public performance.”
According to RTA's website, the impact of the program is far reaching, with many of the participants released from prison now working in the social services.
