Inmates perform Shakespeare to help at-risk kids

CARLISLE, Ind. – Inmates at the Wabash Valley Correctional Facility hope their performance of Shakespeare adaptations will help at-risk kids stay out of prison.
Inmates in the Shakespeare in Shackles program recently adapted and performed scenes from “Romeo and Juliet” to highlight the violent society Romeo lived in and the consequences of his choices.

The performance was videotaped and will be shown to teenagers in the Youth Incarcerated as Adults unit at the prison and to students at Vigo County’s alternative high schools.

Larry Newton, who was incarcerated for murder when he was a teenager and is now serving a life sentence, said teenagers often talk about living by courage, honor and humanity – but sometimes don’t know what those words really mean.

“They can give these things substance in their lives,” Newton told the Tribune-Star News of Terre Haute. “They can actually start questioning what these things mean to them and build them into their lives.”

Newton, 32, said reading and studying Shakespeare has already taught him a lot.
“I kind of direct the sail in my life,” he said. “I get to determine what my life means, what I do with it, how I feel about it. I’m in control.”

Program director Laura Bates, an associate professor at Indiana State University, said inmates at the prison about 40 miles south of Terre Haute have worked for five hours at a time over the past nine months on the project, sometimes giving up recreation time or other activities. Inmates read, discussed and interpreted “Romeo and Juliet” before writing their own parts for their adaptation.

The inmates also have studied “Macbeth,” “Othello” and “Hamlet.” To be eligible for the program, inmates must have a clear conduct record.

Bates said she believes the program is the only Shakespeare program developed by prisoners to teach other inmates how to use Shakespeare plays to examine their own lives.

“We do believe that it has the power to change and even save lives,” she said.