Antigone at WHP

From Rebecca:

Just got back from Toronto (a workshop with Indigenous documentary film makers and law professors mixed). It was pretty fun!

Click on the link to read the text on the poster.

Last week was the prison symposium  which was amazing.

William Head Penitentiary is the federal minimum security prison (mostly life sentence people but near the end of their sentences).

We have a PhD student who is there (he went in as a 20 year old, and is going to be doing at least 10 years before the possibility of parole…. I think he is about 27 now).

The prison has a society which does theatre in the prison: 37 years of theatre!? It is run by the prisoners, and the public goes in to watch. They just did Antigone

https://westshore.bc.ca/events/william-head-stage-theatre-society-presents-antigone-2017-10-27/

http://janislacouvee.com/antigone-by-william-head-on-stage-whos-october-6-november-4-2017-a-review/

Last year they did a piece where they wrote the play as well as doing all the set, costume, and acting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtIawdNai98

So I saw Antigone, and then we went back a week later for a Symposium inside the prison for activists, academics, theatre people, community volunteers, prisoners, prison staff/warden etc. to talk about the past/present/and future of WHOS (William Head On Stage).

It was a full day in the same room, and so inspiring. This theatre company is something really special. It is also totally funded by the prisoners (through a society): they work with community volunteers, but have to raise all their own money for staging, costuming, snacks, etc.

There is no “govt money” that supports this. Nor are the guards paid to do all the overtime necessary for when the public comes in: the prison guards ‘volunteer’ their time.

 None of it would happen if the warden (both present and past) did not have a commitment to let it happen… and the assistant wardens coordinate with management and operations, etc to make sure things can happen.

Really, it is like a strangely fragile flower that somehow has been able to survive for over 35 years. 

Almost impossible to imagine.

 And the theatre work itself is really transformative for the men.

Quite an experience.

Rebecca