Imagining Medea: Rhodessa Jones and Theater for Incarcerated Women PDF
Preview Imagining Medea: Rhodessa Jones and Theater for Incarcerated Women
Imagining Medea gender &american culture Coeditors ThadiousM.Davis LindaK.Kerber EditorialAdvisoryBoard NancyCott AnnetteKolodny CathyN.Davidson WendyMartin JaneSherronDeHart NellIrvinPainter SaraEvans JaniceRadway MaryKelley BarbaraSicherman Imagining Medea Rhodessa Jones & Theater for Incarcerated Women rena fraden ForewordbyAngelaY.Davis TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress ChapelHillandLondon ©2001TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress Allrightsreserved ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica ThisbookwassetinCarterConeGalliard byTsengInformationSystems,Inc. Thepaperinthisbookmeetstheguidelinesforpermanenceand durabilityoftheCommitteeonProductionGuidelinesforBook LongevityoftheCouncilonLibraryResources. Frontispiece:‘‘TheStoryteller.’’CeramicsculpturebyLorraineCapparell,1994. 27"×19"×11".Model:RhodessaJones.Photographbytheartist,1994 Thisvolumewaspublishedwiththegenerousassistanceofthe GreensboroWomen’sFundoftheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress. FoundingContributors:LindaArnoldCarlisle,SallySchindelCone, AnneFaircloth,BonnieMcElveenHunter,LindaBullardJennings, JaniceJ.Kerley(inhonorofMargaretSuppleeSmith),NancyRouzerMay, andBettyHughesNichols. QuotationsfromallfiveMedeaProjectproductionsaretakenfromunpublished manuscriptsthatarethepropertyofCulturalOdyssey,762FultonStreet,Suite306, SanFrancisco,CA94102.ReproducedherebypermissionofCulturalOdyssey. LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Fraden,Rena. ImaginingMedea:RhodessaJonesandtheaterforincarceratedwomen/ byRenaFraden. p.cm.—(GenderandAmericanculture) Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. isbn0-8078-2659-6(alk.paper)—isbn0-8078-4984-7(pbk.:alk.paper) 1.Jones,Rhodessa. 2.MedeaProject:TheaterforIncarceratedWomen. 3.Prisontheater—California. 4.Womenprisoners—Servicesfor—California. I.Title. II.Gender&Americanculture hv8861.f73 2001 365'.66'082—dc21 2001033301 05 04 03 02 01 5 4 3 2 1 Formydaughters ruthie eva & TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk contents ForewordbyAngelaY.Davis ix Preface xiii Introduction 1 1 ACounterEpic:MakingtheMedeaProject 27 2 ToBeReal:RehearsingTechniques 67 3 PrisonDiscourse:SurveyingLives 120 4 CommunityWork:ImaginingOtherSpaces 179 Appendix:SelectedPerformingandDirecting BiographyofRhodessaJones 207 Notes 209 Bibliography 231 Index 241 illustrations ‘‘UpfromBelow’’ 3 ‘‘HearNoEvil,SeeNoEvil’’ 4 ‘‘Dance’’ 5 ‘‘CurtainCall’’ 6 RhodessaJones 28 SeanReynolds 43 Rehearsalplanning 68 Rehearsalmovement 69 ‘‘WomenAreWaiting’’ 89 ‘‘KickingDance’’ 96 ‘‘Prayer’’ 99 ‘‘HoStroll’’ 116 PauletteJones 137 FeliciaScaggs 151 BarbaraBailey 155 AndreaJustin 166 MichaelMarcum 189 MarciaColhour 192 foreword RhodessaJones’sMedeaProjecthasaccomplishedsomethingthatisstill extremelyrareinthiseraofgiganticprisonpopulationsandincreasingly complexrelationslinkingstate-inflictedpunishmentandcorporatestriv- ingforprofit:throughitsdramatizationofthe‘‘real,’’theprojecthasdem- onstratedthatprisonwallsarenotentirelyunscalable.TheMedeaProject offersustheinsightthatculturalperformancecancarveoutroutesalong whichimprisonedwomen’sstories—thestoriesofthemostmarginalized womeninoursociety—canbetraffickedinthefreeworld. InImaginingMedea:RhodessaJonesandTheaterforIncarceratedWomen, Rena Fraden has written a powerful account of the nine-yearcollabora- tionbetweenwomenintheSanFranciscoCountyJailsystemandwomen performers who,when theyare not working in a rehearsal space in jail, inhabitthefreeworld.ThiscollaborationischoreographedbyRhodessa Jones—bothinitsspecificperformancesandasaprotractedefforttokeep opentheroutesthatallowaudiencesoutsidetocelebratestoriesfromin- sideandthatcreateaccessforthoseinsidetofleetingmomentsonpublic stagesinthefreeworld. IfirstencounteredtheMedeaProjectwhenitwasstillinitsformative period.In1991,whileJoneswasworkingwiththefirstgroupofwomen prisonersintheSanFranciscoCountyJail,Iwasteachingacourseatthe jailentitled‘‘Women’sCulturalAwareness.’’RhodessaandIwouldocca- sionallymeetinthewell-monitoredcorridorsofthejailinSanBrunoand wouldshareideasandinsights.Whenshetoldmeaboutherdesiretohave herstudentsperformnotonlyfortheirsisterprisonersbutalsoforpub- licaudiencesinSanFrancisco,Iremembermyownskepticism.Now,of course,IfeelashamedthatIdoubtedherabilitytocreatethesemomen- taryescaperoutesfromjail,especiallysinceIcanrememberhowpower- ful metaphors evoking theyearning for freedom informed the rehearsal sessionIattendedatthejail. Less than a yearafter these conversations, the Medea Project was al- readypreparingforitsdebutperformanceatTheaterArtaudinSanFran- cisco,RealityIsJustOutsidetheWindow.OfcourseIattendedthatperfor- manceandhaveattendednumerousotherssincethen.Nineyearslater,I
The list of books you might like
