Scott-Douglass Amy - Shakespeare inside : the Bard behind bars

Shakespeare Inside

Series edited by: Simon Palfrey and Ewan Fernie

To Be Or Not To Be Douglas Bruster

Shakespeare Thinking Philip Davis

Shakespeares Modern Collaborators Lukas Erne

Shakespeare and the Political Way Elizabeth Frazer

Godless Shakespeare Eric s. Mailin

Shakespeares Double Helix Henry S. Turner

Shakespearean Metaphysics Michael Witmore

Shakespeare Inside

The Bard Behind Bars

Amy Scott-Douglass

Continuum

www.continuumbooks.com

Amy Scott-Douglass 2007

Amy Scott-Douglass has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents

Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission inwriting from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Pubiication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.

Contents

Though now we must appear bloody and cruel,

As, by our hands and this our present act,

You see we do, yet see you but our hands

And this the bleeding business they have done.

Our hearts you see not; they are pitiful.

Julius Caesar 3.1.16771

Acknowledgments

My introduction to prison Shakespeare came in summer of 2003 when I was in Washington DC for the summer, participating in a seminar at the Folger Shakespeare Library and staying with my friend Heather Haines, who at that time worked in the documentary department at the Public Broadcasting Service headquarters. Independent film director Hank Rogerson had sent PBS a video with several scenes from a documentary he was making called Shakespeare Behind Bars, and one day Heather came home from work, slapped Hanks video on top of the VCR and proclaimed, You have to see this, Amy. Youre supposed to see this. As usual, Heather was right.

When I presented a paper on Shakespeare Behind Bars at the Shakespeare and Philosophy conference in Budapest in 2004, the topic and my increasing enthusiasm for it were enough to induce Simon Palfrey and Ewan Fernie to ask me if I would write a short book on prison Shakespeare as part of the Shakespeare Now! series. I hadnt wanted to write a whole book, quite frankly. I had only planned to write an article. I had planned, without really realizing it, just to stay in my ivory tower and read about the various Shakespeare programs, write up a little piece, throw in some Foucault and Genet and call it a day. To write a book would require actually visiting the prison and meeting the inmates. It would require going beyond theory, or, at least, beyond the theoretical. It would require courage. For a single woman in her early 30s, sitting down to meet with men convicted of crimes against women and girls would require a particular kind of courage. I was scared, to tell you the truth. I was worried what the journey might tell me about myself. Nevertheless, I decided to say yes. Little did I know that going to prison would be the most important and enlightening experience of my adult life.

I am immensely grateful to Simon and Ewan for persuading me to write this book, and to other Shakespeareans and Renaissance scholars who have encouraged my work over the past three years, especially Richard Burt, Courtney Lehmann, Diana Henderson, James Fitzmaurice, Jeremy Lopez, Kenneth Rothwell, and Pete Donaldson. I thank Curt Tofteland for being the first of many prison theatre directors to let me inside his program, and I thank Curt, Marcia Tofteland, Karen Heath, and Michelle Bombe for befriending me once I got there. Most Shakespeare prison directors operate on a voluntary basis; they put their hearts and souls into the work that they do in prison and are about as giving and charitable as people come. When I traveled to visit the prison programs of Jean Trounstine, Agnes Wilcox, Meg Sempreora and Laura Bates, these theatre directors and fellow academics extended the same kind of hospitality towards me, inviting me to stay in their homes and providing me with meals and rides to the airport. I also want to acknowledge the goodwill of Hank Rogerson and Jillan Spitzmiller, who encouraged me to go to Sundance to see the world premiere of their film and supplied me with video and DVD copies in advance of its general release. Most of all, I am indebted to the men and women behind bars for sharing their stories with me. I thank each and every one of them for their intelligence, candor and insight.

In the two and a half years that I spent researching this book, I held tenure-track positions at three different institutions. I am grateful for the financial support some of these institutions provided to help me complete this project, and I am even more grateful for the intellectual and moral support that I received from my colleagues and students. From California State University Fullerton, where I worked from 20004, I wish to acknowledge Joanne Gass, Susan Jacobsen, Joe Sawicki, Sherri Sawicki, Kay Stanton, Marlin Blaine, Dorothea Kehler, Shannon Osborne Ford, Sarah Webster, Janis Okerlund, and Corina Kesler. In 2004, when I moved to New York in order to be closer to my family in Ohio, I found a community of like-minded colleagues in the English department at the State University of New York College at Brockport, including Janie Hinds, Jennifer Haytock, Ralph Black, Steve Fellner, and Sharon Kinsley. At Denison University, which I have been fortunate to call home since 2005, I am so blessed with supportive administrators, encouraging colleagues, and engaged students that my debts are already too numerous to name. My thanks are due to the entire English department faculty, my fellow new faculty initiates (most if not all of whom have become my dear, dear friends), my colleagues in Womens Studies and Black Studies, countless students, and the Denison administrators, particularly Provost Keith Boone, who financed the trip my freshmen Prison Stages class took to meet the Shakespeare Behind Bars actors in person.

My deepest thanks are also due to my friends and family, especially Heather Haines, who was responsible for the fateful introduction in the first place; Hilary Trotta Alexander, who helped to relieve my pre-prison anxieties by joking that I should strap down my chest and plan to get her something from the prison gift shop; Donna Woodford, who is unarguably one of the smartest Renaissance scholars on the face of the earth; Adam Kitzes, who offered his invaluable insight at crucial moments; Michael Harris, who was there when it mattered most; and my sister Cyd Schaechterle, who was a constant source of support.