Re: RAT Theatre in prisons...

[TRistau@aol.com]

In a message dated 1/15/01 3:07:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, Liam61@aol.com 
writes:

> Years ago - too many - I worked with a group called Hospital Audiences that 
>  paid for artists and crafts people to go into old age homes and prisons.  
I 
>  did workshops in Attica, Albion, and several country jails in upstate New 
>  York for two years.  The main offices were in Manhattan.  They were a good 
>  group and put a  lot of artists to work helping folks.  I'm unsure if they 
>  were confined to the New York area.  I'm unsure if they still exist.  Be 
an 
>  easy check on-line.  Well worth the look.
>  
>  Ken Tesoriere
>  Coyote Ramblers Performing Artists
>  

years ago I was in a theatre company called Geese Theatre that only worked in 
prisons, and was led by a man named John Bergman.  It was all Grotowski based 
improvisational mask work, geared directly to that special population.  
Between the ages of 19 and 20 I had already been in 170 prisons from 
'pre-delinquent" high schools to max security fed prisons, and peformed at 
the American Correctional Assocation Convention in Toronto---that was pretty 
trippy.

I'd be happy to share experiences and what not, but the company is still in 
existence and you can get a hold of Bergman yourselves if you wish.  He's one 
of the most fascinating people I ever met, and totally committed to drama as 
a real tool for work behind bars.

In addition to our peformances (in a gym with nothing but three feet of air 
between us and the inmates, and guards who didn't like us any more than the 
people they were guarding) we also did workshops ranging from three hours to 
three days, and sometimes month long residencies where we would actually 
teach the inmates group script creation techniques and set up ongoing inmate 
theatre companies inside the prison that continued to produce work long after 
we moved to the next joint.  It was a great experience....I'm too old and 
settled to do it now, but loved every minute of it--except for around 120 
minutes in Kentucky State Reformatory, but I'd rather not think about that no 
more.

 <A HREF="http://members.aol.com/MacFlap/restorative.html">Geese Theatre 
Company Restorative Drama Therapy In Criminal Justice And Prisons</A> 

That's the link.

hope this helps someone.

Todd Ristau