RTA celebrated its 15th anniversary on December 4, 2011 with alumni, volunteers, staff, board, friends and family. Read Clem Richardson’s article on this event in The Daily News

Listen to this wonderful interview on WAMC with Broadway luminaries Sherie Rene Scott and Dick Scanlan, RTA’s newest volunteers, who along with volunteer Sean Fischer, donated their formidable talents to guide the prisoner-participants in Rehabilitation Through The Arts on a powerful theatrical journey.

The workshop “Theatricalizing the Personal Narrative” took place over several months in Woodbourne Correctional Facility, a medium security men’s prison in Sullivan County, and ended with a riveting presentation of monologues performed by prisoners for invited prisoner and outside guests. Some pieces were light, but most, dealing with confusion, loss and remorse, were wrenching – a child torn from his mother, a brutal incident in the prison yard, a 14 year old girl caught in the crossfire.

The audience was moved by the men’s talent, as well as their courage to speak so deeply and honestly about their lives, displaying, as Sherie commented, a “level of commitment and bravery it takes some actors years to go to”.

While RTA focuses on the transformative power of the arts on prisoners, we sometimes forget how important the transformative experience is for volunteers. Sherie’s coming “face to face with preconceived ideas I was not even aware of” is a shared experience among volunteers, a recognition of the humanity they see behind prison walls, and often, a life-changing revelation.

On June 9th, a small classroom tucked inside a medium security prison in Sullivan County was the scene of a theatrical gem, “Theatricalizing the Personal Narrative”.  The few people lucky enough to see this groundbreaking work were facilitators and guests of Rehabilitation Through The Arts, along with several men from the prison population of Woodbourne Correctional Facility.

This powerful monologue presentation was the result of an extraordinary writing and performing workshop facilitated by Shawn Fischer, Sherie Rene Scott and Dick Scanlan.

Video excerpts to come.

Dancing Freedom, a documentary about the Rehabilitation Through The Arts modern dance program at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, will be shown at the Rosendale Theatre, 408 Main St., Rosendale, 7 p.m, on Saturday, May 7. Tickets are $10. Rosendale is in Ulster County, NY

The film will be followed by a live dance by the Figures in Flight dance company, a Q&A which will include several former prisoners who participated in the program and the prison’s Deputy of Programs. There will be a light fare reception.

Led by dedicated facilitators Susan Slotnick and Bethany Wootan, learn more about this extraordinarily successful modern dance program – the only one of its kind in a men’s prison nationwide.

Read about actor Michael McKean, who played Arthur Przybyszewski, the lead character in Superior Donuts on Broadway, speaking to the Rehabilitation Through The Arts group in Sing Sing Correctional Facility.

Superior Donuts will be performed in Sing Sing on May 11th and 12th for the prisoner population, and May 13th for invited community guests.

Michael McKean with Kate Powers, director and RTA volunteer. Photo by Xavier Mascareñas, The Journal News

 McKean stressed to the prisoners that Superior Donuts is a remarkable play and one that audiences can learn from.

“I’m glad it’s in your hands,” he said, adding later, “I don’t think hope is phony. I think hope is gold.”