Shakespeare in the Age of Mass Incarceration

Shakespeare in the Age of Mass Incarceration offers invaluable insight into how Shakespeare appears in prison. Bringing together theater artists, currently and formerly incarcerated actors, and college-in-prison educators and students, the collection describes powerful encounters in classrooms and rehearsal rooms as they explore the complexity of "prison Shakespeare." In this innovative volume, instructors from college-in-prison programs across the United States recount students' profound awe with Shakespeare, and their sometimes trenchant critiques. They also consider how their teaching has grown and changed as they learn from their incarcerated students. Theater artists, including founders of and participants in influential Shakespeare prison programs, illustrate evolving practices in the field. The collection also features discussion from directors of programs for returning citizens, addressing the formidable obstacles people face as they come out of prison. Accessible and highly teachable, this collection offers useful perspectives for students of Shakespeare, prison arts and education programs, and social justice initiatives. Those interested in starting or contributing to Shakespeare programs or courses in prisons will find a wealth of practical information, and those who read or watch Shakespeare with interest, skepticism, or delight will discover points of connection with incarcerated people who do the same.

Liz Fox is Arts and Academic Programs Coordinator at the Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA. She teaches literature courses for a variety of prison education programs. Gina Hausknecht is Professor of English and the director of the Prison Learning Initiative at Coe College, USA.

Foreword; Introduction: Why is Shakespeare in Prison Today?; Past & Present; 1. Shakespeare's "Working-house of thought": The prison in early modern London; 2. Hope Needs to be Loud: A Founding Member on Nearly Thirty Years of Shakespeare Behind Bars; 3. Three Thousand Hours: Shakespeare and Awe in Prison; Interventions; 4. The Cultural Invasion of Shakespeare in Prison; 5. The Cultural Invasion of Shakespeare in Prison: Contexts and Futures; 6. Shakespeare at Auburn: Reflections on Teaching & Learning in the Prison Classroom; 7. "Prisoners of our Actions": Teaching Hamlet on Rikers Island; 8. Playing Many Parts: The Challenges of Representing Incarcerated Shakespeares; 9. Michael Chekhov Technique as a Trauma-responsive Practice in Shakespeare in Prison; Practice; 10. "Presume not that I am the thing I was": Collaborative Theater Companies in English Prisons; 11. "Like Bright Metal on a Sullen Ground": The First Six Months of a Prison Shakespeare Program; 12. Wasps and Falcons: Figurative Language and Teaching Shakespeare's Women; 13. Counter-Readings: Reimagining Shakespeare in Prison Libraries; 14. I Was Octavius Caesar; Futures; 15. Within and Beyond: Shakespeare Behind/BEYOND Bars; 16. Time Out of Joint: Taking Shakespeare from Prisons to Schools; 17. Marin Shakespeare Company and the Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe; Index