Parallel plays from prison | Juan Carlos Meza + Nate Collins | TEDxSanQuentin 2016
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. Since 2003, Marin Shakespeare Company has offered weekly Shakespeare classes at San Quentin Prison, culminating in an annual performance of a Shakespeare play. The men also write and perform autobiographical theatre pieces inspired by their work with Shakespeare.
Hope from adversity | Shakespeare at San Quentin | TEDxSanQuentin 2016
Meet the incarcerated thespians and find out why they're involved with Shakespeare while in prison. Since 2003, Marin Shakespeare Company has offered weekly Shakespeare classes at San Quentin Prison, culminating in an annual performance of a Shakespeare play. The men also write and perform autobiographical theatre pieces inspired by their work with Shakespeare.
Life after lockdown | Bryonn Bain | TEDxSingSing 2014
Multi-media exploration of the possibilities for life beyond incarceration. Prison activist, spoken word poet, hip hop artist, actor, author and educator. After launching the “Lyrics on Lockdown” national prison tour/campaign, Bryonn Bain created the university course by the same name to link students at Riker’s Island prison to NYU, the New School, and Columbia, and has performed the hip hop theater/spoken word production “Lyrics from Lockdown” for sold-out theaters on three continents worldwide. www.lyricsfromlockdown.com
Lyrics from lockdown | Bryonn Bain | TEDxIronwoodStatePrison 2014
Bryonn Bain is Brooklyn's own prison activist, actor, hip hop theater innovator, and spoken word poetry champion. Wrongfully incarcerated during his second year at Harvard Law School, Bain was featured on 60 Minutes after writing "Walking While Black: The Bill of Rights for Black Men," which received the largest reader response in the history of The Village Voice. Currently an artist in residence and visiting scholar at NYU, Bain has taught courses on hip hop, spoken word, and the prison crisis at Harvard, Columbia, and Riker's Island. Executive produced by Harry Belafonte and directed by Gina Belafonte, Lyrics from Lockdown is a multimedia, hip hop theater production based on Bain's experience of wrongful imprisonment. Bain's latest project, Life after Lockdown: The Digital Mixtape is executive produced by the legendary first Hip Hop DJ Kool Herc. Working in collaboration with the Center for NuLeadership on Urban Solutions in Brooklyn and the Anti-Recidivism Coalition in Los Angeles, the LAL Mixtape includes music and videos inspired by Lyrics from Lockdown and provides resources for people returning home from prison.