Will Be Heard: the voices of mass incarceration

11/11

Mass incarceration panel

“Will be Heard: a performance and public conversation around mass incarceration in the United States” is the latest project of The Open Program of the Workcenterof Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards of Pontedara, Italy developed as part of this fall’s New York City residency. The performance piece emerged from extended conversations with formerly incarcerated people and a wide circle of community andadvicacy groups that relate to this issue.

Performing "Will Be Heard"

More than anything, “Will Be Heard” articulates and amplifies the voices of the people who shared their stories. The stories and commentary are interwoven, in a typical Open Center style, with work songs, spirituals and laments from the African Diaspora tradition. And in this performance piece, that is especially appropriate. What comes through beyond the pain and suffering inflicted on those in the corrections system is the reality of a “prison-industrial complex” through which prisoners lives are commodified. They are used to create commodities and become commodities themselves. In essence, the 13th Amendment allowed for the continuation of salvery by virtue of this clause which abolished slavery: "….except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted…."

The performance was followed by a wide and diverse panel of community persons involved with mass  incarceration from clergy to former Black Panthers to activists  calling for the closing of Riders Island. 

Among the points to emerge from the conversation were these:

• There is a direct connection between gentrification, police violence and mass incarceration
• When we buy products that come from the prison labor system, we are participating in “complicit consumption”
• The system runs on a plea bargain default whereby 90% of those incarcerated never had the opportunity for a  trial (Walter Puryear, Mid Bronx Senior Citizen Council and Andrew Freedman Home)
• Solitary confinement must be understood to be the essence of illegal “cruel and unusual punishment” (Wesley Caines, Bronx Defenders)
• Solitary confinement has been especially used against the 65 “Political prisoners” in the US, i.e., those who have been placed in solitary because of their “dangerous ideas” (BJ , Black Panther Commemoration Committee and Incarcerated Nation)
• There are very special effects of incarceration on young women and re-entry presents a real challenge as prison has been internalized. TabaithaRodriguez, (G.I.R.L.S. Achieving Incorprotion)
• Actors need to remember that they are human beings first and must always honor community (Dilson Hernandez, Urban Art Beat)
• The Stella Adler School of Acting has Rikers as one of its studios and its participants are students whose address is Rikers. We will not say “living” at Rikers.  Engaging in the experience of drama and theatre becomes transformative. (Joanne Edelman, Tom Oppenhgeim, Stella Adler School)
• The American Friends Service Committee, which has been involved in working with incarcerated persons for over 100 years, Wesleyan  University and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music have been working together on a “Hope Lives for Lifers” project.  A performance using the experience of incarceration and Dante’s Inferno is being prepared for December
• Most prisoners at Rikers, mainly black and brown, have never been convicted of a crime and are there primarily because of lack of bail money and/or  adequate legal representation. 
• Pastor (Rev.Dr.)Patricia Sealy’s Mott Haven Reformed Church was a stop on the Underground Railroad helping escaped slaves to freedom.

  

  Myrto, Robert, Mario and Pastor Sealy

  She reports:
• 2.7 million children with at least one parent in prison
• 43% have seen there parent(s) treated violently by th eploice
• 1/9 African American children have a incarcerated parent as opposed to 1/28 Hispanics and 1/59 whites
• In Kenya, the standard greeting is “Are the children well?“ To which our answer must be “no”
• We ‘ve now entered into intergenerational incarceration, a difficult pattern to break

More conversation and a dinner followed. 

While the Open Program has always had a commitment to justice and civic engagement, this is the most explicit engagement of an issue they have done in their New York City residencies. This exploration of the intersection of  beauty and justice and ethics and esthetics is an example of exactly what the Center at West Park has as its vision. It I stood to see new Executive and Artistic Director Zachary Tomlinson keeping that vision alive and continuing collaboration with artists like the Ope Center.

Marissa Provenza: just people she loved...

10/6

Thanks to my cousin Suzanne and her son Gordon, we are able to quickly replace the stolen computer. Family, extended communities, that keeps us going.

The police come to interview me about the old one, the one that’s gone. Two uniformed police. Male and female. Friendly. I tell the story again. Slowly. For the third or fourth time. And yes, we are working on the security cameras.  Saturday, I visited the precinct detective squad and spent an hour going through mug shots on a computer. Pretty depressing. Went through nearly 500 photos. All looking, angry, anxious, depressed, defiant, broken or….Only 3 or 4 were maybes, the other hundreds clearly no. But the faces haunted me.  RL, of course asked me, what did I expect? Smiles?

Geoffrey is asking for a blanket. It’s getting cold out.

Jeremy and Anthony are the first to arrive to start putting things together for Marissa’s memorial service. Marc has quickly agreed to do the sound on short notice...

                                                           * * * *

Marissa

Marissa Provenza was a  member of the Seed Group. She came every Monday to sing with the Work Center Seed Group singers. They gathered to sing the African -American and southern white songs that are the roots of spirituals and gospel. They said she didn’t want to sing out too much, but everyone heard her voice, felt her presence. She died last week, suddenly. Unexpectedly. Tragically.

Jeremy G contacted me about the group coming together to plan a memorial service for her. Could they use the sanctuary? 
Of course. That’s why we’re here. 
The Seed Group is part of the family.  They’ve asked me to open and close the service. As people enter, they plan on people being greeted with a eucharist of  popcorn and prosecco. There will be a slide show. Music. Later, a video. And a potluck following.

As we are preparing, the parents arrive. From Florida. They tell me they were raised Catholics but became Christians in the ‘90’s. Today they are more spiritual than religious, but they assure me that Marissa knew Jesus.  More an affirmation of who she is than any thought that I needed to know that.

The people keep coming in, the pews keep filling.  The numbers are moving to me. Most from that 25-40 age group. Many from the circle of communal community houses in Bed-Stuy where she lived.

I’m paying attention to details. The altar.

The altar

Photos. Flowers, Remembrances. Poems. A small Mexican craneo. A San Lazaro candle from Latino popular culture. Votives.

Time to begin. I share some traditional words. ….my peace I leave with you…not as the world gives…blessed are those who mourn…for they shall be comforted.. Welcome them all, say that as her voice sang in these walls, it is still here. As theirs will be. And I quote the Dead:

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken 
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care 
Let there be songs to fill the air

And said may your songs, your words, your prayers, fill this air…

I listen closely over the next two hours. To the original songs. The deep, probing spiritual questions they ask, affirmations they make. The poems, spoken word offerings.  One of her favorites, Don Mc Lean’s Castles in the Air.  A singer breaking down, unable to finish Leonard Cohen’s Bird on a Wire. ... and I swear by this song, and by all...by all.... A rousing group sing of another of her favorites, the praise song, Our God is an Awesome God:

Our God(our God) is an awesome God
He reigns(He reigns) from heaven above
With wisdom(with wisdom) pow'r and love
our God is an awesome God…

Testimony after testimony to a woman who embodied unconditional love. No acquaintances, they said, just people she loved. Who drew the bitter and cynical in from the edges. People who knew they had been loved.

The parents were amazed by the number of people. The life of their daughter given witness to.

I been changed...

The Seed Group gathers in a circle, takes off their shoes…starts to sing, I been changed….and the circle grows and the dance goes round and hands clap in rhythm, voices raised in harmony…

And then it’s my turn again. I begin with the  23rd psalm. The Lord is my shepherd... I was expecting a lot of why to be in the air, so I spoke of how my good friend Father John says it remains a mystery. And that at moments like these, God is shocked, surprised. But that he is equally sure that God is there on the other side, waiting with open arms to say, Welcome home with a warm embrace…I say the traditional words of commendation, …ashes to ashes, dust to dust…yet even at the grave…alleluia, alleluia, alleluia….

The chanters come forward, including some who sang Awesome God with one hand upraised, kneel before the altar, Nam myoho renge kyo, nam myoho renge kyo…until a bell is rung…

Anthony, who has been painting throughout the memorial, shares his finished work with Marissa's father.

Anthony's painting

And then, as people move to embrace each other, a lone harmonica plays Amazing grace….

People join together in the breaking of bread. Sharing of food from vegan to barbecue ribs.

Hold your life dear. Live your life. Love your life...
In the name of the living one who created us, Jesus the human one who walks with us as brother,companion and guide, and the wild and untamed holy spirit that sustains us, Amen…

                                         

                                                             ****

I was moved by what they had woven together from who they are. From their souls. Uncensored. Unfiltered. Unmediated. I was ready for why, but not so much of that. Yes, profound sadness. For some unspeakable grief. And the inevitable anger. But more acceptance than why. With all that accepting that means.

These 200 or so young people were for this night a true spiritual community. And my question of course, is who am I? Who are we, as church, in relation to this reality? Do we have any other role than that of a chaplaincy of accompaniment? Do they need anything from us other than a space to be together? Why was it important to be in a holy space? A church? What do we have to offer? All I know is it begins with presence….

After Mario and the Grotowski Work Center brought the Seed group into being, and Mario returned to Italy, I challenged Jeremy

Jeremy

and the group to see if there was a true community in formation. They have done that, rooted in song and spirit. My challenge has been to see where that can go..

I’m thinking of my conversation with Kristen Leigh…so why do we need church? And her answer, It comes down to what’s there when the shit hits the fan…what can I count on….The Seed Group met that challenge.

Again, what is the call here? All I know is that it begins with presence…

                                       ****

Interfaith Assembly pin

Uh, thanks for Ripple, someone says, that blew me away...
Pretty close to perfect lines, I say. Outside on the steps, a neighbor is talking to one of the friends. He’d seen an open door, walked in to

see what was going on. Another I’ve lived here for years, never been inside before's….The friend says, This place is coming back…he points to my Interfaith Assembly pin with the four quadrants, cross, crescent, Buddha, star of David…that’s it, he says….

I’m concerned about the clean up, the remains of the potluck. I see Jeremy. He says, I was worried too, but Marissa believed strongly in recycling, in respecting the environment. Her friends got this covered…

Pat O has stopped by. He looks on, intrigued. 

Performance and the Sacred: continuing the conversation

7/28

Sam, one of the young Dzieci comes in wanting to start some rehearsals for his late August Cymbeline with Ryan. No problem.

A woman is looking for the Seed Group meeting, but I think it’s not until tomorrow night. She sees the bowl with Angelo Romano’s angelitos, smiles, asks what they are. I point to the art work in the sanctuary from Angelo, explain that they are original pieces of art work and have spiritual power. And I invite her to take one. She smiles again. Holds it close. Thanks me. Goes to look for the group.

Priska found Woodshed’s storage room open and lots of valuable things vulnerable so closed the access from the  inside and her studio to keep everything safe. And expresses her thanks for RL  keeping an eye out for her and helping her out.

7/29

Jeremy G is back from a wedding in Nashville, Mario from upstate and Rishika has just been here. Time to evaluate last Friday’s conversation on Performance and the Sacred. Pretty well met expectations. We talked again about the difference between the Work Center folks interacting with existing congregations and the emerging community that comes for the Open Choir and Seed Group. People have historically joined churches out of a belief and Roman Catholic and Church of Christ churches do have a set of beliefs that define particular communities. People come to the Seed Group from many and no faith perspectives seeking a particular experience.

The question is, can that experience be the basis of building a community of mutual accountability and capable of reaching out to others?  That continues to be an open  question, but I want to explore it. And Jeremy G and Rishika are interested in seeing what will happen. We also continue the discussion of what it means to use words that you don’t believe. Mario says that there have been attempts to change words of songs, but that seems to change the song. And Mario talks about how each person is challenged to find their own song.  

And I continue to wonder how this all connects with West-Park as a church, and am willing to wait and see what develops.

Jeremy M and his band the Magi are in the sanctuary rehearsing for a big gig they’ve got coming up at the renowned Falcon upstate. Opening for Arc Isis. 

RL is in for a lengthy review of all current realities, concerns, open issues, etc. 

Time to leave for a gathering and discussion with Rick and Kitty Ufford-Chase about Stony Point. (http://stonypointcenter.org/)

Performance and the Sacred: a living exploration of community and practice (in other words, what we do every day...)

7/23

Myrto, Bob, Mario and Katherine

We finally sit down and talk with the reGroup theatre folks to try and finalize their contract. There have been some bumpy places but I still have respect for what they are doing in trying to reclaim the legacy of the original Group theatre and I am anxious for them to have  a good run for their  Texas  Trilogy, which I haven’t seen since my Tulsa days.( http://www.atexastrilogy.com/home.html) There is enough shared culture on both sides of the Red River to have made a real connection with the Tulsa theatre community.

People from the Work Center are arriving and setting to work for tonight’s open conversation on the intersection between performance and spirituality.

Last night while they were singing, a couple wandered in and asked what was going on. I told them it was an open choir singing songs from the old southern black church tradition. They listen awhile, see the bare feet and the dancing circle and look as if they’re not quite sure.

Pat O in for our weekly meeting. We have to get Danielle’s job replacement description finalized. And keep moving towards finalizing our construction manager contract. And doing whatever’s necessary to expedite getting the stop work order lifted. But underneath it all, there is progress. We are moving forward.

                                                     ****

Starting off with music

A crowd is gathering in Mc Alpin Hall for Performance and the Sacred: a living exploration of community and practice. The event begins with a round if singing. People drawn up and into the moving circles.  Jeremy G gives us an overall introduction and I set the context for West-Park as a sacred space.

There’s a lot to talk about beginning with the theme for the evening.

* I remember when we were working with the accordionist extraordinaire Bill Schimmel (http://www.billschimmel.com/) every Sunday. Other of our house musicians complained and said that it felt more like performance than worship. Katherine responded that all worship is performance,  it’s a matter of what kind of performance. So I argue that  there is no distinction between performance and sacred. 

Jeremy G welcomes us

* Jeremy M argues that for himself as a recoding artist, performer and church musician, for him there is a difference.

* Katherine says that ultimately it’s an issue of intention.

* The issue of repetition comes up. Mario talks about working on some pieces for 10 years before they are ready. I say that repetition can be an effort to recreate an experience. To do it so many times that it becomes embedded. Like a recipe. You may need to do it 10 times before you know it well enough to take it off in another direction. It’s when the word  is fully incarnated that the door to the deeper place opens.

* There are folks here from St. Augustine, a Roman Catholic Church with garifono members, women in African print and turbans. All you need for your church to grow, says one woman, is good music. One good singer. And feed the people good food.

Mario tells us about the Work Center

* We have good food, donated by our neighbor Barney Greengrass, arroz y habichuelas from Flor de Mayo, Mario’s favorite spot, and a giant pan of shepherd’s pie from our home base, the Gate.  Generous neighbors...enough to feed us all and more...

* There are people from the Manhattan Church of Christ, an evangelical break away from the Disciples. They have a strong program with the homeless. But what is their theology? Where are they vis a vis lgbtq? Women? That is important to me.

* The question of context comes up. The music Mario uses is from the American south. African-American Christian music. Some of the seed group members are Buddhist. Jewish. Hindu. Secular. They are wrestling with what does to mean to sing words they don’t believe and still feel moved? Is thee something inherent that in the music that has meaning deeper than the words?

* I press the context discussion in an other direction. The music they sing comes form a  context of struggle, From a project of creating liberated space in the midst of slavery. Oppression. That sustained people in the struggle to make that liberation concrete. What does it mean to remove that music from that context?

Myrto makes a point

* Mario suggests that we are all involved in some level of struggle, even if personal and internal. That’s not enough for me. We live in the midst of the agony of Gaza. Of tens of thousands of children crossing the US-Mexico border. Of a black man on Staten Island choked to death for selling loose cigarettes. Does this experience of singing and/or performance challenge one to engage? I recall that Thomas Merton said that when one begins in true meditation, one ends in revolution.

* Also at stake is community. At last week’s Petefest, in honor of Pete Seeger, I finally got it. When I was an early folk-singer, I hated sing-alongs. I wanted to slay you with my songs. But I realized that Pete had an intention. (That word again) to create a sustaining community of struggle through shared song. That his sing-alongs, the very act of communal singing, had concrete political content.

Katherine does too

* And I pushed the community question further. As I see it there are two agendas. One, the relationship with St. Augustine, the Manhattan Church of Christ, existing faith communities, is dialogical and dialectic in nature. The other has to do with creating new communities. To ask those who have been attracted to the weekly practice of singing what the next step would  be. What would it taken to make a commitment of mutual accountability to each other? To become  a community that would reach out in service, in struggle? I offer to assist that process for anyone willing  to undertake it.

* For me, I now that the church as I have known  it is over. Something new must be born. I want to help midwife that new reality. Is something here part of that new birth? Is there a new community waiting to be born? We’ll review it all next week before Mario returns to Italy.

Saying goodnight after a great conversation

                                                     ****

Open mic starts late out of  courtesy for the discussion going on upstairs. There’s at least one new singer-songwriter named Jesse.

Jesse

I do a late set after Joel, Pat O and Mandola. But the real moment of the night is Alex,

Alex

back again. Getting ready to head back to northwest Arkansas, territory  knew well in my Tulsa days, to record her first EP in Kansas City. She wants to play some songs. Get some video. For her kick-starter campaign. I’m elected to take the video, which I do until her battery runs out. There is something raw and untouched in her voice. I look forward to us being  a community of support as she ventures out. We’ll publicize the campaign as soon as it is on. RL invites her to join him on Stay Awhile. And she does. Smiling all the while.

Stay Awhile