Sheakespeare Behind Bars was truely an eye-opening and remarkable experience to observe. It was inspirational, and a startling wake-up call to the no-nonsense world of reality. Shakespeare gave these participating inmates something positive to pour all their energy and liveliness into; something that they have never had in their lifves before. These inmates in the La Grange, Kentucky are more than a given number, they are people. They have families, childhood memories, passion, sadness, dreams and aspirations. Nonetheless, each person in the prison had come across obstacles at some point of their lives.
Despite their criminal pasts, when presented with the opportunity to learn and perform they transformed into students, eager to learn their lines. The prisoners found redemption in their ability to bring joy to others through their performances. Also, the inmates were able to take the lessons and themes from the plays and reflect them into their own lives. Many Shakespeare characters have troubled pasts and must overcome adversity in order to find peace. The prisoners can relate to the stories and take the moral themes from the classic literary works and find their own peace. This shows the desire of man to make amends for one's mistakes and become a better person overall through human exprience.
This fundamental program is a perfect starting off point to demonstrate to the rest of the world the power of performance and the arts. This performance program could be applied to not only prison settings, but within young peole everywhere. If these amazing opportunities to stand out in positive way was implemented in children at an early age, it could provide an amazing transformation.
Growing up as a police officer's daughter, I haven't really given prisoners any grace. My attitude was that we all make our own decision and have free choices in our life, and they made wrong decisions and choices and have to suffer the consequences, but seeing this film truly opened up my eyes, like you said. I've come to realize that they need more grace than we, as free citizens, are given. They feel regret for what they've done, if because of that they should be given a second chance at redemption. My attitude has changed even more because my heart cries our for those who have no hope, and are just stuck. I think this program gives people hope.
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