Salvation through Shakespeare: An Interview with Laura Bates, contributor to ‘Performing New Lives: Prison Theatre’

Laura Bates sits among eight prisoners in the Special Housing Unit (SHU), four on each side of the hallway, each prisoner locked into a separate cell. Shakespearean discussions take place with prisoners speaking through the opened slots in their doors. © 2009 Jon Mac Media.

Jonathan: What is your chapter about, and why did you choose this particular focus?

Laura: When I was invited to contribute a chapter to this important anthology, I knew that I wanted to focus on one prisoner whose life was not just changed but literally saved by Shakespeare. Additionally, I wanted to present his story in his own words. The first half of the chapter presents an overview of my work in prison, while the second half of the chapter is created from our conversations, edited in collaboration with Larry. It relates his transformational journey through the works of Shakespeare, using his analysis of the characters to provide a self-analysis that was truly life-altering. As one example, we focus on the character of Macbeth, examining some parallels between that character and Larry’s early criminal experiences. While some of those parallels are disturbing, the chapter concludes with the celebration of Larry’s “salvation through Shakespeare.”

Jonathan: Larry developed an impressive body of work under your tutelage. Can you give us an update on his progress?

Laura: Although he is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, with his request for permission to present an appeal having been recently denied, and although he has been transferred out of Wabash Valley and into another segregation unit, he is alive and well. Eight years after his initial introduction to Shakespeare, his enthusiasm for this work remains unabated. Indeed, it continues to be the rock that has kept him positive and focused through these setbacks. He has recently completed reading ALL of the 38 plays of Shakespeare, and has written an introduction and study guide to each play, which I am currently compiling into a “Guide to the Complete Works of Shakespeare.” I’d also like to emphasize that, although I did provide an introduction to Shakespeare to a prisoner who had no prior knowledge of the Bard, more credit is due to Larry’s own perseverance and hard work, than to my “tutelage.”

Jonathan: What are some of the most recent developments in your work? Where do you see it going in the future?

Laura: Although my program has two components, in segregation and in general population, the primary focus has always been in segregation. Currently, my main goal is to create a series of handbooks for incarcerated readers that can be disseminated statewide, and beyond. As mentioned above, I am currently compiling Larry’s writings on all of Shakespeare’s plays in a “Guide to the Complete Works of Shakespeare” that I believe can change lives inside and outside of prison, as it has changed Larry’s life. While the primary audience for this Guide is segregated prisoners, the thought-provoking questions that Larry raises are applicable to all readers, in and out of prison. In fact, I use Larry’s materials in my on-campus Shakespeare courses, undergraduate introductory courses as well as those at the graduate level, with great results. Students, in and out of prison, really appreciate the down-to-earth approach that Larry takes, making comparisons to popular culture, incorporating humor, all while raising some extraordinarily sophisticated questions.

In my own teaching, I find that students’ (and, especially, prisoners’) own assumption that Shakespeare is too difficult for them is the greatest hurdle to overcome, and Larry’s workbooks overcome that hurdle. Always, my primary audience is segregated prisoners, because they have no other educational opportunity precisely at the time that it is most needed. The long-term segregation unit at Wabash Valley houses 288 prisoners, most of whom will spend years in isolation. Each year, the Shakespeare program receives nearly 50 requests to participate in the program, but I can meet with no more than a maximum of 8 at a time due to the physical constraints of the segregated unit. Therefore, my goal this year is to try to facilitate individual work from as many segregated prisoners as possible, using the workbooks designed for them. If we can at least provide an introduction to Shakespeare to 50 isolated prisoners, I think we will have accomplished something meaningful.

As always, the first play that we will be working with is Macbeth, a relatively short and highly dramatic text that addresses a number of important issues for prisoners, such as the role of external influences and personal responsibility. In addition to the workbooks created in collaboration with Larry, I have worked with several graduates of our program in segregation who now serve as group leaders, facilitating our introductory sessions with new readers. One of these is Leon Benson, also featured in my Performing New Lives chapter.

Jonathan: Who do you hope will read this book? What do you hope they will take away from it?

Laura: The collection of essays on prison theatre that are assembled in this anthology should be of interest to a wide variety of readers: theatre practitioners, correctional educators, prison administrators, and prisoners themselves. I would hope that each of these diverse constituencies could take away from it the conviction that theatre can indeed change lives. As our title  “Performing New Lives” suggests, every one of the essays provides a powerful testimonial to that assertion.

Jonathan: Where can readers go to find further information about your work?

Laura: Indiana State University and Wabash Valley Correctional Facility recently collaborated to create an excellent five-minute video introduction to my program.

The program has also been featured in two episodes of MSNBC’s prison documentary series Lockup, and in the news broadcast, ‘Inmates use Shakespeare in a Unique Way’.

Laura Bates received her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Chicago (1998) specializing in Shakespeare studies. She is Associate Professor of English at Indiana State University and has taught Shakespeare courses in a number of correctional facilities through Indiana State University’s Correctional Education Program, for which she designed the four-year bachelor’s degree curriculum with an emphasis on humanities. In 2003, she created Shakespeare in Shackles, the first-ever Shakespeare program in solitary confinement, in the supermax segregation unit at Wabash Valley Correctional Facility. Working in collaboration with prisoner Larry Newton—who is currently serving his twelfth year in isolation—she has created a series of Shakespeare handbooks for segregated prisoners. The purpose of this program and these workbooks is to use the plays of Shakespeare to help prisoners examine, and change, their criminal behaviors.

Jonathan Shailor is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside. He has been facilitating the “theatre of empowerment” in prisons, schools and other settings for over 15 years, and is the founder and director of The Shakespeare Prison Project, which originated at Racine Correctional Institution in 2004.

Copyright © Jessica Kingsley Publishers 2011.