November 1, 2015 - 14:50
From my persective, Friday's session at the prison was an empowering, high-energy space, where people felt safe enough to express themselves. It is incredible how well breaking up into small groups has been working these last couple of sessions; it allows people who would have never spoken in a large group to speak out. We split up into three groups, two of which were discussing a scene that they would like to add into The Burial at Thebes that would change the story more in an intense way, and the third group acting out a scene that they would like to add. Everyone had a choice on whether or not they wanted to act, which gave everyone a sense of autonomy in the process. Because of this, each group truly thrived in their small section. The acting group was full of high-energy folks who got a lot out of performance and the other groups were people who benefited more from discussion. In our small group, we came to some important conclusions. We discussed the space that hope takes up in our lives, as an emotional vibration that inspires action. Hope keeps us going, we all agreed, and it is a visceral reaction that can comes from others' belief that we can be more than we are. It drive us forward into different outcomes. We chose to change the story in a way that seems tiny, but actually has a powerful domino effect that comes from hope, and could be a way that Antigone stays alive. Antigone, despite her death, appeared to be a beacon of hope for many of the women that were in our small group, because they identified so much with standing up for what you believe in, and even breaking the law for what you love. The entire experience also made me reflect on the amount that performance, in general, plays into our lives. Many of the women feel empowered by speaking up, but their speaking up is more than just communication, it is also performance. In that space, we all perform for each other. Last week, one of the women, Sarah* talked about how we all make compromises in what we say every step of the way, we all draw the line differently in different situations. But who decides the line? And where do our words become performance? In a space like this one, our performance becomes powerful mode of being accepted. To show your individuality while also contributing to a space is empowering, so why would you not want to be a part of that? Performance is such a huge part of my own life, and in a space where your self-expression is being denied, harnessing that power in one of the few safe spaces that you have is so important.