Author: danincarn

The Shared Experience Symphony

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It is hard for me to say whether the time we have spent with the ladies at Hope Rises has felt short or long. It feels short because the weeks go by so fast between research and rehearsal where we write, listen, plan, and more. It feels long because the stories I’ve heard in those weeks have been so changing. These stories have made me laugh, fall back in my seat in shock, and hold back tears. The women dazzle me with their resilience and emotional intelligence every time I am in their presence. 

Our first meeting with them, we were in the cozy living room at Hope Rises. There, we took our very first recording of their conversations. As they spoke, often times over the top of each other, I was struck by what I later described in my journal as a, “a loud, painful symphony of shared experience.” So many of these women, despite their vast age difference, contrast in background, and varying crimes have experienced so many of the same things while in prison. In them, one can see a physical representation of how the incarceration system separates these women from the basics that contribute to their humanity.

I could certainly explain how what I have heard from these women about their experience makes me feels some kind of ideal Brechtian desire to fix the system in any way I can. I sometimes struggle with the knowledge that the women that sit in front of me are literally walking evidence of how many people slip through the cracks of the social institutions that seem completely normal to many of us. But, it is the storytelling that reminds me not to allow myself to get too puffed up or angry in their stead. These women don’t need me to do that. I’m there to give them the tools to share their story; What they need me to do is listen, consider, and learn. Really, we all need to learn from them.

As the date of our performance approaches, I am finding myself wishing that I could spend forever learning from them. Clearly though, thats impossible. These ladies need to graduate and re-enter the world and I certainly have plenty of work to do. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy the process while I can.

Meet the Students: Dani

Meet The Students

My name is Danielle Carney, but I go by Dani. I am a junior Theatre Arts major/Social Justice minor at Hendrix. My interest in the Hope Rises theatre project comes from a very personal and passionate place.

When I was in high school, there was a student that participated in our theatre program who, like many other students in our school, came from a very poor background and had a home life that was less than optimal. It was clear that the circumstances that he was born into and his environment put him at an immediate disadvantage. When he started doing theatre, he was a bit shy and unsure of the people and the practice, but enthusiastic nonetheless. Over the course of a single show, we watched him gain enough confidence to express himself both onstage and off. He was surrounded by people who cared about him and wanted him to succeed, and he was telling a story that he believed in, and that created something really special. He gained a sense of community that fostered social skills, creativity, and clarity. Seeing what participating in theatre did for this student made me think a lot. Theatre has impacted my life in so many ways. In the theatre, I have gained my own sense of confidence, met the most important people in my life, and found my true home. If it can do that for me, someone who has been raised with enough privilege to experience the arts in many ways that others have not, then what can theatre do for the people who would benefit the most from participating or seeing it?

When I think about the societal impact of theatre, I am reminded of a quote by the playwright Lynn Nottage about the role of the theatre artist in our culture right now. She says, “We are cultural watchdogs. We stand at attention observing and reacting. We excavate, we uncover, we interpret and unravel. We lyrically explore our relationship to our past and present. We look inward and then we look outward to find ways to better understand ourselves. We are protectors of tradition and shapers of new ones.” Nottage’s manifesto on theatre is something that resonates with me deeply. It is our role as theatre artists to pay attention to the stories that emerge from places like Hope Rises and other re-entry programs and prisons across the country so that we may start to answer questions and address issues about incarceration.

The Hope Rises Theatre Project encompasses and exercises exactly what I believe theatre is and should be: a method of storytelling that, at the end of the day, is changing the way people see and interact with the world around them. With this project, I hope to learn more about the powerful intersection of theatre arts and social justice. Each of the ladies that we are working with at Hope Rises has their own unique and important story. I am so excited to develop a performance peice that capitalizes on collaboration and champions honest storytelling to give these women the skills to empower themelves and to teach our community about the realities of incarceration.

Link to the full speech by Lynn Nottage here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr0ih663SxQ&t=206s&fbclid=IwAR0voh-l1M_M0FX2lrZjxImpFPC_laDzrOg9oiV6DCInkzm_5BSoj6F-MJo