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“It’s Legendary. It Brings Laughter – the Best Medicine.” – November 3 & 5

When we arrive on Thursday, we have a packed house! Just like last week, we have a reading spirit. As we are going to begin reading Act 4 tonight, the group sets their sights on trying to finish the script by next Thursday. Before we jump into reading, though, Sophia has one of her last documentary questions. It’s a real moment of centering and reflection for the group. Sophia asks: “What does it mean that 15 years of SIP has come before you?” The group reflects for a moment.

Nyah Chandler

Alumni Advisory Council Member

“The New Generation is Coming” – October 27 & 29

When we arrive on Thursday, it’s clear that it’s going to be a big reading night. As November creeps up and the ensemble is getting excited to cut and cast the show, the energy and drive to read as much as possible is high! The ensemble settles in, and opens up the evening with a conversation about memorization, commitment, and attendance.

Sam Grigg

Alumni Advisory Council Member

Jason Hunt

Alumni Advisory Council Member

Ricardo Malloy BKA Ricky

Alumni Advisory Council Member

WDET: Inmates Perform Shakespeare in Prison

Frannie Shepherd-Bates, creator of Magenta Giraffe Theatre, meets weekly with inmates of the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility in Ypsilanti teaching Shakespeare and directing performances.

For four hours each week, the group goes through theatre exercises and works with excerpts from Shakespeare plays. The participants choose the play and cast themselves.

It’s called “Shakespeare in Prison,” and it’s modeled after the 19-year-old program “Shakespeare Behind Bars.”

MICHIGAN PUBLIC: Shakespeare helps prisoners change

Frannie Shepherd-Bates is a Shakespeare geek. She is also executive artistic director of the Magenta Giraffe Theatre Company in Detroit.

Twice a week, Shepherd-Bates drives from metro Detroit to the Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility, which is about 10 miles south of Ann Arbor, to share her love of Shakespeare.

She makes her way through a thorough security check (where a security official checks the soles of her feet and shoes, as well as under her tongue), into the educational part of the building where prisoners can enroll in a variety of classes.

DETROIT METRO TIMES: Behind bars with the Bard

Shakespeare puts prison life in perspective.
Frannie Shepherd-Bates sits in a hard plastic chair in the front row of what looks like a small school auditorium. Concrete walls painted an institutional white surround the DIY theater veteran, while a dozen orange-clad inmates sit attentively nearby. Shepherd-Bates exudes an air of serene confidence, an attitude that many folks might find hard to maintain at Michigan’s only maximum-security prison for women. On top of that intimidating prospect, she’s currently leading the group through a particularly difficult passage in Shakespeare’s ubiquitous masterpiece, Hamlet.

CBS NEWS DETROIT: Detroit Area Women’s Prison Shakespeare Program ‘Liberates’ Inmates

You don’t normally associate Shakespeare with prison, but that is exactly what’s happening in Ypsilanti at the maximum security Huron

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