Overview

Obscured behind concrete and razor wire, the lives of the incarcerated remain hidden from public view. Inside the walls, imprisoned people all over the world stage theatrical productions that enable them to assert their humanity and capabilities. Prison Theatre and the Global Crisis of Incarceration offers a uniquely international account and exploration of prison theatre. 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’s writing offers a distinctive blend of storytelling, performance analysis, travelogue, and personal experience as the child of an incarcerated father. Distinct examples of theatre performed in prisons are explored throughout the main text and also in a section of Critical Perspectives by international scholars and practitioners.

Full Product Details

Author:   Prof Ashley E. Lucas (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA) ,  Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr. (Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, USA) ,  Patrick Lonergan (University of Galway, Ireland)
Publisher:   Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Imprint:   Methuen Drama
Dimensions:   Width: 13.60cm , Height: 1.60cm , Length: 21.20cm
Weight:   0.360kg
ISBN:  

9781408185896

ISBN 10:   140818589
Pages:   272
Publication Date:   03 September 2020
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
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Table of Contents

Foreword Heather Ann Thompson (University of Michigan, USA) Acknowledgments Part I Prison Theatre: Strategies for a Better Life Introduction: Journeys in Prison Theatre 1 Theatre as a Strategy for Community Building 2 Theatre as a Strategy for Professionalization 3 Theatre as a Strategy for Social Change 4 Theatre as a Strategy for Hope Conclusion: Glorious Beings Live Here Part II Critical Perspectives 5 Dancing in the Wings: Does Prison Theatre Offer a Radical Containment or a Pedagogy of Utopia? Selina Busby (The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama , UK) 6 “The Actors Have All the Power”: Angola’s Life of Jesus Christ Stephanie Gaskill (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA) 7 Citizens Theatre, Scotland, Facilitates Changes in Life Directions through Creative Arts Mediums Neil Packham and Elly Goodman, (Citizens Theatre, UK) 8 Bad Girls, Monsters, and Chicks in Chains: Clean Break Theatre Company’s Disruption of Representations of Women, Crime, and Incarceration Caoimhe McAvinchey, (Queen Mary University of London, UK) Notes Selected Bibliography on Prison Theatre Selected List of Prison Theatre Companies and Programs Notes on Contributors Index

Reviews

This powerful account of theater, both in prison and in the free-world, eloquently reveals that those two worlds-and the people who inhabit them-are not distinct. This is an ethical, moving act of scholarship that matters. * Tressie McMillan Cottom, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA *

Author Information

Ashley Lucas is Associate Professor of Theatre & Drama and the Residential College at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA, and Former Director of the Prison Creative Arts Project. She and Jodie Lawston co-edited the book Razor Wire Women: Prisoners, Scholars, Artists, and Activists (2011), and they cofounded a blog by the same name. Lucas also write the play Doin’ Time: Through the Visiting Glass, which she has performed as a one-woman show since 2004.

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