Living with Life: The Theatre of Witness as a Model of Healing and Redemption.

Art Therapy

April 2021

Full Citation

Sepinuck, T. Living with Life: The Theatre of Witness as a Model of Healing and Redemption. Performing New Lives.

Abstract

This chapter describes producing theatre with men who have been incarcerated for life. I began by talking about Theater of Witness-a form I developed in 1986 in which the true stories of those who have been marginalized, forgotten, or hurt by society are woven into collaborative theatre productions and are performed by the people themselves in spoken word, movement, music, and visual imagery. I showed the prisoners I wanted to work with excerpts of works I'd created with refugees, women living in poverty, and survivors and perpetrators of abuse and violence. The men seemed moved by the stories of the performers on video. The emotion, concentration, and energy in the room was palpable. Some of the men asked tough questions. Who would write the show? (I would, based on the words and stories of the men gleaned in interviews and rehearsals. They'd have total veto power over every word.) Would anyone make money off of it? (No-TOVA is a nonprofit and we were using grant money to fund the project. In fact, lack of funds was a constant struggle.) What were the themes going to be? (I had no idea. These would come from the men directly.) There was also a lot of excitement and creative energy expressed. In the end, eight men said that they wanted to participate and commit to coming to two or three meetings a week for up to six months. This project wasn't about producing theatre in a prison, having the men learn performance skills, or even using theatre as a way to reduce conflict and stress. It was about using the context of theatre to delve deeply into the lives and experiences of the prisoner/performers to understand what it means to live with a life sentence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved)