Teaching Shakespeare in Prison

Renford Reese, California State Polytechnic University - PomonaFollow
Rachel Tracie, Biola UniversityFollow

Author ORCID Identifier

0000-0002-6097-7273

Keywords

Teaching in Prison, Shakespeare, Theater in Prison, Acting in Prison, Prison Education Project

Abstract

The Prison Education Project (PEP) offers life skills and academic courses in 30 correctional facilities in California. Founded in 2011, PEP uses university student and faculty volunteers to teach a range of 32 introductory courses during three seven-week semesters: Fall, Spring, Summer. One of PEP’s most popular courses is the “Introduction to Shakespeare” course. This article examines the impact of teaching an “Introduction to Shakespeare” course in prison. This course introduces in-custody students to the literary interpretation of Shakespeare in the context of their own lived experience. Students in this course deconstruct the use of language and analyze the social, cultural, and historical context in Shakespeare’s writings. The class explores the playwright’s use of literary form, metaphor, personification, and genre in his plays. Each course focuses on one Shakespeare play. Students read and performed a scene from this play, which focused on grief, madness, action, and forgiveness. The image of an intellectually curious person who seeks enlightenment belies the stereotypical image of the dangerous prisoner. From the outside, it might be difficult to fathom a group of prisoners flocking to sign up for a course about the work of a 16^th Century English playwright, poet, and dramatist. What does their eagerness to sign up for this course say about them? Is it possible for prisoners to deeply connect to Shakespeare’s writing? And, does his writing empower and inspire this population in unique ways? In one context, every prisoner is living a Shakespearean tragedy, which is characterized by a tragic flaw or by committing a grave error (hamartia), which leads to their downfall (peripeteia). As one prisoner who is serving a life sentence California stated, “It can take you 50 seconds to get into something and 50 years to get out of it.” Indeed, the concept of being free one day and in prison the next day is Shakespearean. The timelessness and universal appeal of Shakespeare suggest that he was able to capture the imperfections of mankind and uniquely grapple with the fundamental challenges of human existence. This article summarizes the impact that the “Introduction to Shakespeare” courses had on the incarcerated students in these courses.

Author Bio

Renford Reese, Ph.D. is a professor in the Political Science Department at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. He is the founder/director of the Prison Education Project.

Rachel Tracie, Ph.D. is an Associate Professor of Theatre at Biola University. She is the Writing Coordinator for the Prison Education Project.