Abolitionist Theatre-making
Abolition, like theatre-making, is a verb and a practice. Abolitionist theatre-making centers those directly impacted by state violences, builds community connections and power, by creating conditions for flourishing and joyful belonging, shifting power dynamics toward equity, and actively resisting capitalism.
Theatre Across Prison Walls
Eckert's work inside prisons and jails aims to create spaces of humanity with the sole intent of artistic creation. Projects are determined by skills, vision, and aspirations of the artistic collaborators. Theatre responds with nimble dexterity to the sometimes numbing, sometimes terrifying, and always oppressive structures of carceral environments. Below are highlights from some of her prison-based theatre projects.
Mission Statement:
Theatre Across Prison Walls seeks to dispel the idea that there is only one way of expressing self, surviving prison, and identifying with one’s culture; as such, the organization’s work uses theatre-making and ensemble-building practices to 1) create beauty, 2) hold space for humanistic connections, and 3) embody play and joy.
Program History:
Created in 2013 by Rivka Eckert, Theatre Across Prison Walls has offered theatre programming and workshops in prisons in Arizona and New York. In the beginning, TAPW offered courses like Acting and Drama, but quickly shifted to meet the needs, skills, and interests of the inside participants.
Plays across the walls Celebrates 5 years!
The free Plays Across the Walls Festival will be held at Potsdam Public Library on December 6, 2022 at 7:30PM. and in the Blackbox Theater in SUNY Potsdam’s Performing Arts Center on December 8th, 2022 at 7:30PM.
Plays Across the Walls has been the perfect opportunity for playwrights from all walks of life to come together and put their work on display. In coordination with Potsdam Public Library, Assistant Professor Rivka Eckert began this project in May 2022 by offering a virtual playwriting workshop to playwrights from the North Country community and beyond. Eckert states: "This is the fifth year of Plays Across the Walls, and it is one of our favorite ways to engage and reflect the community. Alumni, faculty, and community members get to share the stories they find important, resonant, and beautiful. Each year is so different and I always look forward to hearing new work read by SUNY Potsdam’s theatre students.” Plays include: Trudy Caswell-Ryan’s “Bright Red,” Aubrey Slaterpryce’s “Outside, Or, Who is the Skeleton?,” Elaine Kuracina’s “The Island,” Danielle Wirsansky’s “Qui Vivra Verra,” Rivka Eckert’s “Lil Tots Storytime,” and Joshua Vink’s “Conciliation.” Admission to the festival is free, and run-time is approximately 60 minutes |
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2021's Plays Across the Walls is back LIVE and in-person. In coordination with Potsdam Public Library, Assistant Professor Rivka Eckert began this project in May 2021 by offering a virtual playwriting workshop to playwrights from both the North Country community and beyond. Over the summer, Eckert also taught an in-person playwriting workshop at Riverview Correctional Facility where participants wrote plays.
Eckert states: "Now more than ever we are seeing the connective power of the arts, especially theatre. For a group of strangers to gather and trust one another with their stories, speaks to the great vulnerability and trust that theatre requires. Even in a ten-minute play, there is a whole web of human experience the audience glimpses. These performances allow SUNY Potsdam students, working as actors, stage managers, playwrights, directors, and community engagement strategists to take responsibility for putting up this production. Plays Across the Walls shows the ways that we radically reimagine how communities can uplift, celebrate, and heal together through performance."
The free Plays Across the Walls Festival will run from November 18-21, 2021 at the Black Box Theater in SUNY Potsdam’s Performing Arts Center. A free community show will also be held at the Potsdam Public Library on November 22, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
Eckert states: "Now more than ever we are seeing the connective power of the arts, especially theatre. For a group of strangers to gather and trust one another with their stories, speaks to the great vulnerability and trust that theatre requires. Even in a ten-minute play, there is a whole web of human experience the audience glimpses. These performances allow SUNY Potsdam students, working as actors, stage managers, playwrights, directors, and community engagement strategists to take responsibility for putting up this production. Plays Across the Walls shows the ways that we radically reimagine how communities can uplift, celebrate, and heal together through performance."
The free Plays Across the Walls Festival will run from November 18-21, 2021 at the Black Box Theater in SUNY Potsdam’s Performing Arts Center. A free community show will also be held at the Potsdam Public Library on November 22, 2021 at 7:30 p.m.
Fall 2020: Plays Across the Walls Festival
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After COVID-19 interrupted the playwriting workshop offered in Riverview Correctional Facility, Rivka pivoted to offer the playwriting workshop online (read the interview in Watertown Daily Times about the transition). Fall 2020's Plays Across the Walls was the largest festival to date! 16 playwrights from across the country and three nights of performances. Actors and directors included students and alumni from SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Plattsburgh and Clarkson University, as well as members of the local and national theatre communities.
Press Release Playbill |
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Fall 2019: Playwriting Across Prison Walls Festival
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Great community theatre—providing a platform to those behind bars. In addition to the performance at SUNY Potsdam, there was a performance at Riverview Correctional Facility in late September.
Read by SUNY Potsdam students Austin Antle, Mal Brewster-Holland, Elinor Greenway, Riley Keyser, Devin LaBare, Joseph Pease, Inuer Pichardo, Isabel Wildflower and Monti Wilkins. Stage managed by Mia Bodine. Playwrights and play titles:
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Seven new plays written by playwrights incarcerated at Riverview Correctional Facility, will be staged and performed across Northern New York during Fall 2018. The docket of plays will be performed by students from SUNY Potsdam's Theatre and Community course. Performances will take place at St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility (11/2), SUNY Potsdam (11/10), and Riverview Correctional Facility (11/16). The Nov. 10th performance at SUNY Potsdam is open to the public. To reserve tickets call (315) 267-2277. The event will be streamed via Facebook live. Selected plays will also be presented at the Anne Frank Project's Social Justice Festival in SUNY Buffalo on October 3, 2018. |
Photo Credit: Peter Mertz,
Arts-in-Corrections Conference, Loyola Marymount 2017
MASTER ARTIST CLASS -- ARTS-IN-CORRECTIONS CONFERENCE : Los Angeles 2017
Rocchio's master artist class on creating original personal performance led conference participants through a process for developing original theatre through storytelling practices, empathetic connection, and humanization. By creating, listening, and performing together, these short workshops offered opportunities for artistic growth, connection, and development, not just for prisoners, but for the larger community as well. The conference helped connect arts-in-corrections practitioners nationally with tools for advocacy, assessment, artistic growth, and education.
Rocchio's master artist class on creating original personal performance led conference participants through a process for developing original theatre through storytelling practices, empathetic connection, and humanization. By creating, listening, and performing together, these short workshops offered opportunities for artistic growth, connection, and development, not just for prisoners, but for the larger community as well. The conference helped connect arts-in-corrections practitioners nationally with tools for advocacy, assessment, artistic growth, and education.
APplied Theatre Project in Canton, NYOver the spring semester, Rocchio led a group comprised of inmates from St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility and nine SUNY Potsdam students in the creation of a piece of original theatre. Using ethnodrama techniques, the ensemble wove together stories from their lives with song, movement, and audience engagement. The performance took place inside the correctional facility on April 21st.
To the left is a brainstorm of some of the goals of the class and how they were evaluated.
Click HERE to read more about the project. |
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New York Connections
After a month-long drama residency at St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility, focused on personal storytelling, embodied movement, and story structure, the men inside collaboratively wrote this poem with the titles of their individual stories. This poem represents each of the men who participates, and hints at the larger, more complicated, narratives of their lives.
Theatre Across Prison Walls featured on ASUnow's website
This article focuses on how the Theatre Across Prison Walls brought together two groups of students through theatre. Reporter Deanna Dent was granted access to Eyman State Prison in order to document the final performance and interview some of the men involved in the production. Read the story here. |
Photo Credit: Deanna Dent
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Theatre Across Prison Walls featured in Huffington Post!
Pollination Project Awards Theatre Across Prison Walls $1000!
The Pollination Project, a nonprofit foundation that gives $1000 a day, every day, to individual change-makers and activists worldwide, awarded a grant to Rivka Rocchio, creator/founder of Theatre Across Prison Walls.
Theatre Across Prison Walls unites undergraduate students from Arizona State University and inmates at Eyman State Prison as they develop a theatre performance. The performance, which will take place November 24 inside Eyman State Prison, will be attended by other inmates from Cook Unit, members of the Department of Corrections, and select ASU professors.
“Thank you, Pollination Project, for believing in my work and helping to connect artists across prison's walls,” said Rocchio. “This grant will help purchase texts, props and costuming, and facilitate the transportation of teachers to Florence.”
The Pollination Project gives seed grants to projects that benefit people, the planet, and animals in areas like environmental sustainability, social justice, community health and wellness, arts, and education. To view a full list of recipients to date please see: https://thepollinationproject.org/
About The Pollination Project
The Pollination Project awards $1000 in seed grants every day to individual changemakers and activists who are working to make the world – or their own community – a better, more peaceful, just and more sustainable place. The Pollination Project is a platform for investing directly in committed people who just need a little money to launch their social change vision. For more information or to apply please visit https://thepollinationproject.org/
Theatre Across Prison Walls unites undergraduate students from Arizona State University and inmates at Eyman State Prison as they develop a theatre performance. The performance, which will take place November 24 inside Eyman State Prison, will be attended by other inmates from Cook Unit, members of the Department of Corrections, and select ASU professors.
“Thank you, Pollination Project, for believing in my work and helping to connect artists across prison's walls,” said Rocchio. “This grant will help purchase texts, props and costuming, and facilitate the transportation of teachers to Florence.”
The Pollination Project gives seed grants to projects that benefit people, the planet, and animals in areas like environmental sustainability, social justice, community health and wellness, arts, and education. To view a full list of recipients to date please see: https://thepollinationproject.org/
About The Pollination Project
The Pollination Project awards $1000 in seed grants every day to individual changemakers and activists who are working to make the world – or their own community – a better, more peaceful, just and more sustainable place. The Pollination Project is a platform for investing directly in committed people who just need a little money to launch their social change vision. For more information or to apply please visit https://thepollinationproject.org/
Questions Drive Theatre Across Prison Walls Project
At the midway point of the Theatre Across Prison Walls project we are close to being ready to putting together a script! Students have been writing monologues, scenes and developing characters. LOTS of interesting questions have come up in relation to the work we are doing. Here are some of the ideas we are chewing on:
- How can we invite the opinions and creative thoughts of people in to spaces where they cannot physically go?
- How many mistakes can I make and it still be forgivable? One? Five?
- What has caused the political will to shift around issues of incarceration in such a way that Obama's visit to a federal prison didn't invite much criticism?
- What are the ethics involved in performing other peoples' stories?
- Does arts-in-corrections support correctional facilities?
- Is it possible to perform a show written to be performed in a specific community, in a specific locale, with specific people again with other circumstances and people?
theatre across prison walls kicks off!
Just completed the first two weeks of the Theatre Across Prison Walls project!
There are 15 students enrolled in drama class at Eyman State Prison and 3 students enrolled in the corresponding course at ASU. We're in the process of taking inventory of the skills and assets in the room and building a collaborative theatrical vocabulary.
Thoughts at the beginning:
There are 15 students enrolled in drama class at Eyman State Prison and 3 students enrolled in the corresponding course at ASU. We're in the process of taking inventory of the skills and assets in the room and building a collaborative theatrical vocabulary.
Thoughts at the beginning:
- It's amazing to me that two populations who have never met one another are so excited to make theatre together!
- Are there other groups making art with a similar together but separate structure?
- How will the disparity in enrollment numbers (3 in one class, 15 in the other) impact the work?
- What will be the points of connection between the two groups?
- What are the implications of bridging institutions like this? How can this be of benefit not only to individuals within the classes, but also to the larger structures involved?
THEATRE ACROSS PRISON WALLS: Beginning Fall 2015
Approval has just been granted by the IRB and AZ Department of Corrections for an exciting new collaborative theatre project between Arizona State University and Eyman State Prison! Stay tuned for more details.
Summary of SPring 2015 Eyman State Prison Drama Workshop |
DESCRIPTION
15 inmates at Eyman State Prison in Florence, AZ enrolled in a weekly drama workshop class that explored performance techniques, devising theatre practices, and writing. The class created an original work of theatre based off of the in-class explorations and of close readings of Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros and Alan Ginsberg’s Howl. This new piece of theatre – centered around a casino in the early 1990s – was performed May 7th for an audience of 40 inmates from the Cook Unit yard and members of the Department of Corrections Administration. The performance featured poetry, scenes and songs written by the ensemble. The audience participated in a talk-back after the performance and participated in drama activities led by the ensemble-members. IMPACT The men who signed up for the drama class have created:
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In like a Lion...
Poetry written by the ensemble.
We are making progress on the Theatre Behind Bars project this semester at Eyman State Prison. Here are some excerpts from the teaching journal I've been keeping:
April 3rd:
The scenes they wrote were surprisingly good AND everyone wrote one, which was really exciting. I asked them to cast from our group, and no one was allowed to be in a scene they had written. They took a few minutes to cast and rough-block the scenes. I am impressed with how well the group is functioning together and listening to each other. I told them this as I watched W. direct his scene. Y. leaned over to tell me that it is awesome, and that they never get a chance to work like this inside. Another moment of impact and recognition.
After watching the scenes, I asked the guys to vote on the environment/atmosphere of our performance from the options they’d brainstormed earlier. They voted for casino. This week I need to type up the scenes they’ve written and look for bridging moments to tie them together. I had the idea of trying to make this performance more interactive and playful than they have been in the past. Like splitting up the audience and having the guys lead them through some creative drama games (all themed around casino of course).
Y. asked me at the end of class to look for opportunities for him to publish some of his writings, and for places he can leverage his experiences inside when he gets out. So far I have found these: http://vidahliapress.com/prison-writing-contest/ , http://realcostofprisons.org/writing/, http://www.pen.org/literature/annual-prison-writing-contest , http://ejusa.org/prisoner/resources/Artistic%2B%2526%2BCreative%2BWriting
Y. gets released in 71 days (after over 12 years inside), and it processing through a lot. He says he is in mourning for what he will lose after being inside, mostly the relationships he has developed. I am curious what kind of transitional programming/counseling he is getting, if any. He is a leader in the class, and on the yard, and I know the guys he is connected with will miss his presence.
March 20th:
We warmed up with Swat Dash (from Spolin), which the guys really liked. They enjoy physical games where they can have contact with eachother in non-threatening ways, and play. I played too, which I think established a strong sense of working and playing together after being on break for so long. No matter how I feel walking in the complex, being in class and focusing on the process of creating new work and playing together always helps create a space of positivity.
After the warm up, we looked at and gave feedback on the monologues they wrote from the song lyrics. Y. and A.’s monologues stood out. They made bold choices vocally and physically, and really seem to have thought through character. Many of the other guys really didn’t do the work of developing environment or who the person was that they were speaking to. The texts of the monologues had lots of potential though. I think continuing to work on them will be a good set of beads to drape the rest of the show and character development on. Also, it’ll be fun to figure out how to tie them all together.
B.'s monologue was really interesting to me for another reason. As I asked him questions about his character, he continued to switch back and forth between what he wanted and what the character wanted. I asked him why he chose to re-write this song in this context and he said that it was his situation, that he wanted people to understand why he’d done what he’d done. He said he had killed a man trying to protect a prostitute who was being beaten. The monologue he delivered was a man wanting his daughter to understand why he’d killed. It is moments like this when I know I am crossing the line into drama therapy and I don’t exactly know how to tread. I can critique acting, direct and make suggestions for writing all day long, but when dealing with issues like guilt, confessions, and counseling, I don’t know exactly how to proceed. I told him I understood the personal connection, but that the character needs to be a character-that he should take steps to make choices that move the story away from his. Of course, this is the opposite of what I would tell someone acting in a pre-scripted show. But in this context, I think it is important that the guys get a chance to try on new characters and ways of seeing. I've picked up Robert Landy's book Drama Therapy to read through over the summer - hopefully it'll give me a basic context and familiarity with the line between drama therapy and drama that I keep treading all over.
Lots of work to do, not a lot of time to do it in. Feels like the story of creating a production inside. I asked them to write out their monologues and short scenes so I can start to type out the text. Next week, we will take a second look at their monologues and a first look at the short scenes.
April 3rd:
The scenes they wrote were surprisingly good AND everyone wrote one, which was really exciting. I asked them to cast from our group, and no one was allowed to be in a scene they had written. They took a few minutes to cast and rough-block the scenes. I am impressed with how well the group is functioning together and listening to each other. I told them this as I watched W. direct his scene. Y. leaned over to tell me that it is awesome, and that they never get a chance to work like this inside. Another moment of impact and recognition.
After watching the scenes, I asked the guys to vote on the environment/atmosphere of our performance from the options they’d brainstormed earlier. They voted for casino. This week I need to type up the scenes they’ve written and look for bridging moments to tie them together. I had the idea of trying to make this performance more interactive and playful than they have been in the past. Like splitting up the audience and having the guys lead them through some creative drama games (all themed around casino of course).
Y. asked me at the end of class to look for opportunities for him to publish some of his writings, and for places he can leverage his experiences inside when he gets out. So far I have found these: http://vidahliapress.com/prison-writing-contest/ , http://realcostofprisons.org/writing/, http://www.pen.org/literature/annual-prison-writing-contest , http://ejusa.org/prisoner/resources/Artistic%2B%2526%2BCreative%2BWriting
Y. gets released in 71 days (after over 12 years inside), and it processing through a lot. He says he is in mourning for what he will lose after being inside, mostly the relationships he has developed. I am curious what kind of transitional programming/counseling he is getting, if any. He is a leader in the class, and on the yard, and I know the guys he is connected with will miss his presence.
March 20th:
We warmed up with Swat Dash (from Spolin), which the guys really liked. They enjoy physical games where they can have contact with eachother in non-threatening ways, and play. I played too, which I think established a strong sense of working and playing together after being on break for so long. No matter how I feel walking in the complex, being in class and focusing on the process of creating new work and playing together always helps create a space of positivity.
After the warm up, we looked at and gave feedback on the monologues they wrote from the song lyrics. Y. and A.’s monologues stood out. They made bold choices vocally and physically, and really seem to have thought through character. Many of the other guys really didn’t do the work of developing environment or who the person was that they were speaking to. The texts of the monologues had lots of potential though. I think continuing to work on them will be a good set of beads to drape the rest of the show and character development on. Also, it’ll be fun to figure out how to tie them all together.
B.'s monologue was really interesting to me for another reason. As I asked him questions about his character, he continued to switch back and forth between what he wanted and what the character wanted. I asked him why he chose to re-write this song in this context and he said that it was his situation, that he wanted people to understand why he’d done what he’d done. He said he had killed a man trying to protect a prostitute who was being beaten. The monologue he delivered was a man wanting his daughter to understand why he’d killed. It is moments like this when I know I am crossing the line into drama therapy and I don’t exactly know how to tread. I can critique acting, direct and make suggestions for writing all day long, but when dealing with issues like guilt, confessions, and counseling, I don’t know exactly how to proceed. I told him I understood the personal connection, but that the character needs to be a character-that he should take steps to make choices that move the story away from his. Of course, this is the opposite of what I would tell someone acting in a pre-scripted show. But in this context, I think it is important that the guys get a chance to try on new characters and ways of seeing. I've picked up Robert Landy's book Drama Therapy to read through over the summer - hopefully it'll give me a basic context and familiarity with the line between drama therapy and drama that I keep treading all over.
Lots of work to do, not a lot of time to do it in. Feels like the story of creating a production inside. I asked them to write out their monologues and short scenes so I can start to type out the text. Next week, we will take a second look at their monologues and a first look at the short scenes.
February 2015 -- Update on drama Workshop At Eyman State Prison
The ensemble of actors, writers and performers at Eyman State Prison continue to work on developing material for a new performance piece in May 2015. The ensemble has held story circles, begun dabbling in movement-based performance work, and started experimenting with incorporating source texts into something more personal.
Drawn by Normand 'Henbé' Bilodeau , AnthroFest 2007 (http://dragoniade.deviantart.com/art/Rhinoceros-Transformation-308447434)
Artwork (c) Normand 'Henbé' Bilodeau, Character (c) Philippe Busque
Drawn by Normand 'Henbé' Bilodeau , AnthroFest 2007 (http://dragoniade.deviantart.com/art/Rhinoceros-Transformation-308447434)
Artwork (c) Normand 'Henbé' Bilodeau, Character (c) Philippe Busque
January 2015:
Thanks to a generous grant from the Woodside Endowment and Changemaker Central, drama classes are starting again at Eyman State Prison. For the first time, students will receive notebooks and folders with which to document their process and artistic vision, and copies of Howl by Allen Ginsburg and Rhinoceros by Ionesco. The 15-week drama class will put on a staged reading of Rhinoceros for the larger yard, and will create a piece of original theatre tying together elements of Theatre of the Absurd and devised theatre practices.
Quotes from the first day of class, answering the question
'Why are you in this class?':
"I joined this class in the hopes to learn new skills that I can transfer to life on the outside."
"I've gone from being in poverty to being a millionaire, and everything in between. Freedom of expression is the most important thing. That's why I'm in this class."
"Prison isolates us from each other. I am in this class to recover some of that community. To find the heart of my artistry."
"I'm in this class because I know it is going to be hard for me."
"I'm here because I've been lazy as an artist, and this will keep me honest."
Thanks to a generous grant from the Woodside Endowment and Changemaker Central, drama classes are starting again at Eyman State Prison. For the first time, students will receive notebooks and folders with which to document their process and artistic vision, and copies of Howl by Allen Ginsburg and Rhinoceros by Ionesco. The 15-week drama class will put on a staged reading of Rhinoceros for the larger yard, and will create a piece of original theatre tying together elements of Theatre of the Absurd and devised theatre practices.
Quotes from the first day of class, answering the question
'Why are you in this class?':
"I joined this class in the hopes to learn new skills that I can transfer to life on the outside."
"I've gone from being in poverty to being a millionaire, and everything in between. Freedom of expression is the most important thing. That's why I'm in this class."
"Prison isolates us from each other. I am in this class to recover some of that community. To find the heart of my artistry."
"I'm in this class because I know it is going to be hard for me."
"I'm here because I've been lazy as an artist, and this will keep me honest."
