Practicing Poetic Justice -
2014 Columns
December, 2014 INSIDE /// OUT
For the first time, Poetic Justice Project will present a Commedia Dell’Arte play, INSIDE /// OUT, which offers a comedic look at the criminal justice system. Commedia Dell’Arte is a style of masked, improvisational slapstick comedy that dates back to 16th Century Italy. It is physically, emotionally and intellecutally demanding.
October, 2014 HeART of the Matter
I've known Guillermo Willie for 14 years. His art is extraordinary and so is he. He is a master at "being in the moment." He says life itself is an art form. If it's an art form, how should we approach its canvas, I ask him.
September, 2014 Chow Call
In prison, animals take on a heightened significance for many reasons. This poem, which first appeared in DMQ Review and Verse Daily in 2003, explores some of those reasons.
August, 2014 Correcting Correctionsl
Comedian John Oliver, with the help of Muppets and music, recently did a segment on his show that skewers the country’s dysfunctional criminal justice system. In his piece, he takes on racism, solitary confinement, sexual assault and the imprisonment of mentally ill people. He ends with the song America's Prison System is Broken.
July, 2014 Poetic Justice Project Actor Lands TV Show
Mr. Brown is going back to prison again. Although he paroled in 2008 and has not
re-
Next month he's making the leap from stage to television, filming the pilot of a new web series drama called "Solitary." He plays the lead character, Marcus Edwards, who has spent more than twenty years in solitary confinement
June, 2014 Arts in Corrections Returns to California Prisons
Arts in Corrections has been reinstated in 17 California prisons, after the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation allocated $1 million to restore the program. This is good news for prisoners, prison administrators, and taxpayers. Arts in Corrections costs a fraction of what most prison programs cost and has a proven track record of reducing prison incidents and lowering the recidivism rate.
May, 2014 Alcatraz Surprise
Practicing Poetic Justice by Deborah Tobola -
April, 2014 The Hole
Poetic Justice Project is remounting its production of In the Kitchen With a Knife,
in which three characters are sent to The Hole after their co-
March 2014 Theatre: A Microcosm of Life
When new actors come into a Poetic Justice Project production, I tell them, “This can change your life!” Our actors have been incarcerated in juvenile facilities, jails, and/or prisons. Most have no previous stage experience, so they do not know that theatre is a microcosm of life.
February, 2014 Dog Run
What is prison really like? Imagine a small city with its own vernacular, customs and cultural codes. If you work there, as I did, your view is different from the people who live there. But you can imagine what it might feel like to be incarcerated, as I have in this poem.
January, 2014 Prison Reform
As we ring in the New Year, there are hopeful changes on the horizon of prison reform. It took decades to build California's prison system, a $10 billion a year goliath that returns an average of 70% of its inmates.
The price tag has prompted voters and policy makers to reconsider mass incarceration as the visceral response to criminal behavior.
Go to Practicing Poetic Justice 2013 and 2012