The Nonprofit Podcast The Important Podcast - Ep 4 Shakespeare in Prisons - Suraya Keating
In this episode, you will meet Suraya Keating - a woman who teaches classical Shakespeare acting to prison inmates in the United States.
Evidence suggests that arts education programs in prisons, such as this one, reduces recidivism. In other words, this training reduces the likelihood that a prisoner will re-offend and break the law again after being freed.
Suraya’s classes are diverse, comprised of a variety of people who don’t normally associate in the prison environment, but who come together for deep play within the stories of Shakespeare.
By taking on the emotional lives of these characters and learning to live truthfully within the character’s imaginary life circumstances, the students develop empathy and are freed to express a range of emotions safely in class that they often feel unable to show in the prison environment (like sadness, fear or rage).
In this episode we will explore Suraya’s remarkable story and the lives she’s affected through teaching Shakespeare to prisoners.
In this Episode, You Will Learn
- We’re all born with the ability to use our imaginations and play
- About the healing power of play
- How theatre and Shakespeare training can help people develop empathy and be emotionally present
- Some intense moments and lessons learned from teaching Shakespeare in San Quentin State Prison
- How prisoners write and perform their own theater pieces based on their lives and themes from Shakespeare
- How deep play brings people from all different racial, religious and economic class backgrounds together
- How to reframe our view of mistakes and our relationship to failure
- How prisoners grapple with the challenging language of ‘Old English’ and apply the narrative themes of Shakspeare to their lives
(Thanks to podcast listener Geniya Avilov for submitting this question) - Suraya’s journey from growing up in an achievement oriented Jewish family in New York City to helping others through drama therapy and joyful deep play
- How Suraya is most present when she’s serving others in the way she wants to be serving others
- A lesson from Rick on emotions: Thank You
- How when we’re highly triggered, it’s often not the best time for dialogue
- “A sailor doesn’t learn how to sail on a calm sea”
- What scares Suraya
- Suraya’s goals
Links and Resources
- Shakespeare for Social Justice and Training in Theatre For Social Justice by Marin Shakespeare
- About Suraya Keating
- TedX San Quentin: Parallel Plays - “Ever wonder how prisoners greet each other or what they think about love? Based on themes from Shakespeare, watch two original theater pieces written by incarcerated men drawn from their real-life experience.”
- Video - Prison Bridges, theme: healing
- Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe
- The Actor’s Gang Prison Project | Tim Robbins | The Shawshank Redemption