America proclaims itself the land of the free, but imprisons more people than every other country in the world. That profound hypocrisy unfolds in Freedom Project, a multimedia physical theater work from Providence, Rhode Island-based Everett Company. The show brings together personal stories culled from research and interviews, athletic choreography, and evocative imagery in an intimate examination of the crisis of mass incarceration in the United States.

Freedom Project represents a natural progression for Everett, which provides free after-school theater and dance programs for low income youth in Providence and often responds to social issues in its work. “We were seeing firsthand the effects of mass incarceration on communities of color and low income communities locally,” says Aaron Jungels, co-executive/artistic director. “So many of our students had family members who were incarcerated, so many former students had been incarcerated, even former company members had ended up incarcerated.”

Jungels says Everett aims to “bring many perspectives together” while “centering [the work] in the community that is most impacted” by mass incarceration. At the outset of the project, the company asked itself, “How can performance most effectively contribute to a movement to end mass incarceration?” As a company Everett members improvise in the creative process, videotaping everything and returning to what resonates emotionally. Composition then involves pulling pieces together that speak to each other. “It’s a little bit like creating a puzzle without having the outlines,” Jungels says. “The outlines are forming as you’re building it.”

Grace Face, Freedom Project, Everett Company

Freedom Project features projections of interview subjects among its varied media, providing a chance for unfiltered testimonials from formerly incarcerated individuals that can be juxtaposed to reinforce or enhance their resonance. “Things like that are powerful when you hear it from the voice of the person themselves, not translated through an actor,” Jungels says.

Jungels hopes that audiences leave both outraged at a system unnecessarily brutalizing so many people and energized to make an impact rather than be complacent. “This is going to be the first time we perform [the piece] since the election,” he says. “Our previous run of it was last summer.” He explains how the subject matter “has been resonating differently” in the face of the most overtly white supremacist administration in the last several years. “It was there, but it was harder to convince people that it was there. There wasn’t really an acceptance that a lot of the power structures in this country are racist basically.”

Aaron Jungels, Freedom Project, Everett Company

This summer Everett took Freedom Project to The Yard on Martha’s Vineyard, Trinity Rep in Providence, and Kō Festival in Amherst, Massachusetts. “When we went to Trinity, we were reaching an audience that doesn’t probably normally see this kind of theater, and may be challenged by the political perspectives in it,” Jungels says. “That’s what I really feel is where we can have the most impact.”

Performing around New England, considered an ostensibly progressive area, has been important for breaking down some stereotypes about mass incarceration, an issue that has steadily worsened around the country in the last four decades. “People always tend to think of this as an urban issue,” Jungels says. “But it turns out it impacts rural communities strongly, too. Obviously the statistics are worse when you look at the South, but New England is not without its issues. We here in Rhode Island have a voter ID law, and we’re supposed to be one of the bluest states in the country. And yet no one even thought to challenge it or thought to connect it to these other issues.”

Christopher Johnson, Freedom Project, image by Justine Bevilacqua

Everett will perform Freedom Project at the SPACE Gallery in Portland, Maine on Friday, September 8th and Saturday, September 9th at 7:30 p.m. That weekend they’ll hold workshops with Maine Inside Out, an organization that uses theater to help formerly incarcerated youth unpack the issues they face upon release. The piece will then travel to New England Youth Theatre in Brattleboro in association with Vermont Performance Lab on Friday, September 15th and Saturday, September 16th at 7:00 p.m.

Jungels emphasizes Freedom Project’s intentions to address the sobering issue of mass incarceration with emotional complexity. “There’s a lot of humor. There’s a lot of beauty. It’s not going to be a dreary, hopeless experience,” he says. “It’s going to be something where I think people are going to come away uplifted. They’re going to come away energized. And I think they’re going to come away feeling hopeful that change is possible.”

Aaron Jungels–Co-Executive/Artistic Director, Everett Company
Providence, Rhode Island
Website

Photography by Justine Bevilacqua, courtesy of Aaron Jungels and Everett Company

The post #TakeAction: Finding Hope in the Theater appeared first on Take Magazine.

Vermont Performance Lab (VPL) isn’t your standard artists’ retreat. Located in the hills of Guilford, Vermont, VPL’s mission is to provide dance ensembles with a decidedly modern rural retreat where the entire company comes together to craft new work in an intensive, dedicated space. Sara Coffey, who founded VPL in 2006 and is a former dance company manager, recognized the challenge under-financed ensembles face when trying to find working space for troupes that are in the process of developing new projects. VPL wasn’t built to host performances, but rather as an ‘incubator’ where new pieces are cultivated and brought to life.

Candice Salyers | Photo by Jeff Woodward

“An incubator is a context or set of conditions that you need to be able to make something,” Coffey says. “Our artists are working in a multidisciplinary arena, so there’s practical conditions that need to be met: a space to work in, somebody to get the space for them, production support, research support, and an organization that helps facilitate that. The artists we’re particularly interested in supporting are the underdogs. They’re the ones who don’t have a permanent company, permanent space, or permanent home. Otherwise they really wouldn’t need us.”

Part of VPL’s mission is to help integrate dance companies with folk from the local Southern Vermont community, fostering collaborations that might not otherwise exist. VPL shows have included collaborations with local farmers, community colleges, Youth Services, the elderly, and even a performance featuring trained dogs herding sheep. The work is also socially minded, with themes such as masculinity, immigration, African-American culture, homelessness, and living in an object-based society all taking featured roles in the collaborations.

Beth Gill at 2015 Open Lab | Photo by Kelly Fletcher

In addition, VPL is home to the SEED program, which was launched in 2015 to “help Vermont’s dance ecology.” Focusing on choreographers, the SEED program offers residencies to Vermont artists who, in turn, develop their work both in Guilford and Montreal, Canada, through a partner organization called Studio 303. “A SEED artist will get two residencies, a stipend, and travel support,” explains Coffey. “They have access to my experience: I know how the field works and can offer suggestions on grants, how to get their work touring, and who in the industry can help them bring that about. That’s necessary information built into the VPL program.”

Dahlia Nayar and Margaret Paek performing 2125 Stanely Street at the Danich Gallery | Photo by Kelly Fletcher

Coffey admits that not all of the collaborations are successful. “If you’re going to encourage risk taking, it’s important to have some failures.” She remains undeterred, however, crediting the Vermont community for continued encouragement and inspiration. “We’re not living in a big city where nightly performances can be a social activity. Folks want to be outside in their yards, digging in their gardens, writing their own work. We’ve been here long enough now that people give us a chance—they want to see what VPL is up to. They might not always like what we offer, but they keep coming back and that feels like success.”

Sara Coffey | Photo by Kelly Fletcher

Sarah Coffey – founder, Vermont Performance Lab
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Top photo Krissy Tate of Time Lapse Dance at VPL’s Party Under the Stars | Photo by Kelly Fletcher

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