April 16, 2013

Today was a challenging day for the group. The participant who is playing Prospero came in with doubts that she will be able to memorize her lines due to stressful circumstances in her life. I asked her if we could have an open discussion as a group, and she said yes. After she explained what was going on to the group, they were nothing but supportive and reassured her that, no matter what, she will not be a failure to them. They encouraged her to just do what she can and not stress about it. They know she is working hard. One participant had a great idea to put Prospero’s script in a “book of spells” that the actor can carry around with her, which will make it less obvious that she is reading lines.

When a couple of the others stated that they are also concerned about memorization, I mentioned that, if they can get mostly off book and only have a few trouble spots, they can put those lines that need to be read on index cards so that they don’t need to carry around large pieces of paper. They were relieved by this suggestion, since they think carrying around a script will look bad.

I reminded them that no matter where they end up in terms of memorization, they have taken on a challenge and they are going to succeed to the best of their ability – and that it is incredibly impressive that they are doing this, memorized or not. I reminded them of when a participant in the last session had to start her scene over twice in performance, but after she got through it on the third try, she got the most applause out of everyone. Everyone who will be in our audience will see how difficult it is to do what these women are doing, and they will appreciate their efforts no matter what.

I also gave them the option of delaying, altering or canceling the performance, but they were unanimously and adamantly opposed to that.

We spent some more time encouraging those who are having a difficult time, whether it’s in the group or outside, and then decided to spend the rest of the time working on lines individually or in pairs. Interspersed with actual “work” were more words of encouragement and “pep talks.”

While it is difficult to get through a day like this, it is important in that it brings the group closer together. There’s no bravado here, and everyone wants to help everyone else. I didn’t hear one word of criticism or blame for the challenges people are facing. This is a solid team at this point, working toward a common goal. For some of them, this is a wholly new experience, and, even with the challenges, it is a positive one.

April 12, 2013

Kyle Norris from Michigan Public Radio visited us today. The women really enjoyed having her there, as did I. After Ms. Norris recorded us warming up and playing a game, we had a discussion about the group and its effects. I won’t go into detail here about what the women said, since I’m not sure what will end up in the story and I don’t want to spoil anything, but their emphasis was on the sisterhood they feel within the group, the confidence they’ve gained as a result of their participation, and their hope that people can look at programs like this and see past the stereotypes that are out there about incarcerated people. They expressed themselves beautifully and said some very powerful things. I will post the link to the story once it is available.

We then worked on the second half of Act IV Scene i. All of the actors were very gung ho about the silliness in the scene, and it’s working very well.

Everyone left feeling very good today. They are thrilled that their story will be out there soon.

April 9, 2013

Today we worked the first part of Act IV Scene i. The participants who have the fewest lines volunteered to play the goddesses in this scene. The group decided that the best way to stage this was for the goddesses to enter through the audience and then come to the stage, circling around Ferdinand and Miranda. We worked a lot on making sure everyone had a good understanding of the text and that the staging made sense to everyone. One of the participants pointed out that it was difficult for her to hear her cue to come in from the back of the house because people are not projecting their voices. We discussed the need to focus on that, and I gave them some tips, but we will definitely do exercises as we get closer to the performance to help.

I was especially excited today by the efforts of one participant in particular. She has been playing the Master, who has very few lines, because she is uncomfortable reading aloud in front of a group. She also has not always appeared to be paying full attention during our meetings, and she is reticent to participate in discussions. However, we recently came to an understanding that she needs to be a more active participant in order to remain in the group. Today she was completely different. She spoke up during our discussions, volunteered ideas, and then had no problem taking on the role of Iris and reading her lines. And she did very well. I pulled her aside when everyone was leaving to let her know how much we all appreciate the effort. I told her that I know she was going out on a limb reading that text, and she did a great job. She was very happy to hear that.

April 2, 2013

We finished our work on Act V today. Everyone is very relieved to have the end of the play figured out, and they are feeling better about things in general. The work today went very smoothly, with lots of great ideas volunteered by a number of people, and the scene is working very well. Some of the participants feel that the entire group should work more on the script outside of our meeting time and prepare for things ahead of time. In light of this, we formed a game plan for the next few meetings to cover what’s left of the play. On Friday, we will work on Act III Scene ii, and then next week we will take the two days to figure out Act IV Scene i. Upon realizing that we are so close to having covered the entire play on its feet, more relief was expressed by a number of people. The group then decided that, after this phase, we should begin working through the play in chronological order, regardless of who is absent. Since this desire comes out of their passion for the project, comfort with and growing ownership of the material, I am completely okay with it.

One of the participants then stated that she’s fallen completely in love with Shakespeare, and that whenever she hears something about him on the news or in passing, she feels her ears perk up. She is probably the most intensely dedicated to the group, and it shows. She challenged the participant playing Stephano to a “remember-off” – they are having a friendly competition to see who can get all of her lines and blocking memorized first. She is taking this very seriously, and it is clearly having a positive effect on everyone else in the group.