2021 Update: Balinese exchange and more!

Dell'Arte has begun another year of programming at Pelican Bay State Prison in partnership with the William James Association's Prison Arts Project with funding and support from the California Arts Council and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. We are excited to continue our work with many talented artists inside Pelican Bay as well as our partnerships with supporting organizations. Our hearts go out to the incarcerated individuals and their families who have been greatly impacted by COVID-19 and we continue to wish them health and light.

In-person programming was halted in the spring of 2020 due to the pandemic. Since then, Dell'Arte has been offering classes through paper packets for participants enrolled in Dell'Arte's Theatre Arts Prison Program. Our engagement this past year has focused on a series of collaborations to create a diverse array of lessons for our participants during the suspension of in-person programming. Program participants began distance learning in an exchange with California-based Playwrights Project and Executive Director Cecelia Kouma to create a playwriting zine called "The Jam"(check it out here), which was distributed to the writers to share with their families and loved ones. In turn, Dell'Arte created packets to exchange with participants as part of the Playwrights Project Out of the Yard Playwriting Program at Centinela State Prison. Participants in each program were given personal feedback and we are overjoyed at the opportunity to have worked with the Playwrights Project and their incredible students!

Dell'Arte was then able to create an international exchange with our Balinese faculty led by Dayu Juni Newman in partnership with Dell'Arte Theatre Arts Prison Program Director Janessa Johnsrude. Normally, Dell'Arte runs a study abroad program in Bali every year. Again, due to the pandemic we were not able to go, but connected with our friends and partners in Indonesia for a different kind of project. Janessa, who also serves as the associate Bali Abroad Program Director, and Juni crafted a series of videos, edited by Malcolm DeSoto, which were broadcast into the institution via the prison's institutional channel and available to anyone with access to a television inside. The videos featured lessons by Juni, Pak Wayan Mardika (Music and Shadow Puppetry), Pak Wija (Shadow Puppetry), Nyoman Setiawan (Mask Carving), Ida Bagus Gustu Wirabumi (Dance), and Ida Bagus Ketut Rajastra aka Gustut and his Kecak crew (Kecak Chanting). Program participants wrote stories and designed shadow puppets, which Pak Wayan Mardika crafted into a gorgeous set of puppets! Long-time Bali Program partner and Bali-based mask maker Newman took on collating a script from the writings and worked with Juni, Pak Wayan Mardika and a team of Balinese artists to produce an original full-on Wayang Kulit (shadow puppetry) show accompanied by a live gamelan orchestra. The show, titled "My Luminous Self" was filmed and broadcast back to participants via the institutional channel. Participants also got copies of the script with images from the show. We are glad to have such incredible friends and faculty in Bali who shared their immense talents and gifts with program artists and for the beautiful work the participants shared with one another through the exchange! The puppets were included in a ceremony in Bali and are awaiting placement in a gallery before they make their way to the U.S. below are images from "My Luminous Self" with puppets designed by program participants and brought to life by our Balinese partners with a live gamelan orchestra.

Creators from Pelican Bay include:

Abrahamyan Harutyun, Donald Sanchez, Adrian Mariscal, Bryon Argueta, Antwone Johnson, Derick Bridgewater, Jose DeAnda, Luis Gutierrez, and Michael Hardy.

Greygor the Killer Hornet - Character created by Donald Sanchez

Ani - Character created by Abrahamyan Harutyun, and Gregor the Killer Hornet

Damon - Character created by Michael Hardy and King Darkness - Character created by Derick Bridgewater

Our program participants then spent the summer months working with a former faculty member and Ecuadorian theatre artist Carlos Gallegos to write solo monologues and were able to see a couple of Carlos's own solo shows via the institutional channel and read a script from his original play "Kaleidoscope Neighborhood". We are hoping to bring Carlos's play into Pelican Bay one day in person! Carlos's expert feedback helped shape participants' writing and allowed them into his personal creative process.