You have probably heard that, as part of efforts to keep Michigan's incarcerated people as safe as possible during this pandemic, the Michigan Department of Corrections has temporarily closed all facilities to visitors and outside volunteers—including SIP facilitators. (Please click here for more information from MDOC.) Though we are not able to be in the same space with our ensemble at this time, we are working diligently to ensure that we are ready to go the moment the crisis is past.

Our work with SIP alums on a variety of projects continues apace! We are particularly excited about the progress we're making on our very own book, RICHARD III—IN PRISON: A Critical Edition. We hope you'll take a little time to visit the S.I.P. Book page and check out the videos we've posted. They'll bring you right into the process with some incredibly interesting (and, dare we say, entertaining?) discussions. Stay tuned for more from our alums very, very soon.

We want you to know—because we know it may be on your mind—that we are working very hard to identify and raise the funds we need to ensure that Shakespeare in Prison weathers this crisis intact as a program. If that is something you would like to help with, please click here to donate. And if you know of any resources you think we should look into, please click here to email us and let us know.

We will share more updates as we have them. Till then, we ask that you please keep our country's 2.2 million incarcerated people—including so many members of our SIP family—in your thoughts.