HISTORY OF INCARCERATION, a new performance project 2010- 2011

LAPD’s History of Incarceration project combines theater, installation and public education to examine the personal and social costs of incarceration in the US.  The performance and installation’s creative material is developed in workshops and brings together the first hand personal experience of performers including their inside understanding of how the prison system functions.  In State of Incarceration these artists articulate the mental and physical challenges of incarceration and the resources needed to endure and recover from it.

Skid Row Los Angeles is a special place and vortex for a number of thorny social issues that confront the entire nation. The US has the highest rate of incarceration in the world.  California has the greatest number of prisoners in the U.S. When released from state penitentiaries with $200 gate money, parolees are directed to Skid Row with the largest concentration of low cost housing in LA County.  33% of parolees released to the Los Angeles area settle in the 52 square block neighborhood of Skid Row.

Due to the aggressive policing of Skid Row, virtually all Skid Row citizens have first hand knowledge of the criminal justice system.   For a lot of people on Skid Row their experience comes through minor infractions such as jaywalking.  50 percent of the jaywalking tickets written in the entire city of Los Angeles are written in the 52 square blocks of Skid Row. And because many people cannot afford to pay the $100 fines, if they don’t pay, the jaywalking ticket becomes an arrest warrant, and the next time they are stopped they get sent to LA County jail.

* Open theater workshops for 'History of Incarceration' Every Tuesday 7-9 PM and Saturdays 2-5 PM, at the UCEPP space on the corner of Stanford and 6th Street: 800 East 6th Street, Los Angeles CA 90021.

* May 20, 7-9 PM:  PANEL & DISCUSSION: Parole Reform Shakeout: Who Wins and Who Loses? The Effects of California's Parole Reform on Parolees, People Getting Out and Transitional Programs Downtown @ the Central City Community Church on the corner San Pedro & 6th Street. 

The Los Angeles Poverty Department has organized a panel to discuss the effects of the state’s parole reform on people living downtown: current parolees, transitional programs and people who will be released under the provisions of the parole reform.    Already the effects are being seen as some current programs lose funding and people in defunded programs scramble for housing and support services.   Professionals working with parolees will share their insights into the effects of the reform on the people who will be most effected by it: current and near future parolees and people who will be released with non-revocable parole.  Currently, one-third of the city’s parolees are in downtown.

Panelists:  

Alan Richards, Second Chance Act Mentor Coordinator/ Amistad de Los Angeles.

Marilyn Montenegro, social worker and coordinator of the Women's Council Prison Project, a project that provides social work services for women in prison and women leaving prison.

The panel will be moderated by:

Ruthie Gilmore, professor of American Studies at USC and author of “The Golden Gulag”.

* FREE WORK-IN-PROGRESS-PERFORMANCES  'STATE OF INCARCERATION' - 8PM:

June 9: Central City Community Church, corner 6th and San Pedro Street

June 10: LA CAN, 530 South Main Street.

The June performances were structured around the making and serving of a communal meal—prison style.  Prisoners come together and combine the foodstuffs they each have in their cells to make “THE SPREAD”.  Using Ramen noodles as the base ingredient, the cooking is done by putting noodles, hot water and everything else in a large clear trash bag and kneading it for 20 minutes until done.  

Here’s the recipe: MAKING THE SPREAD

-18 packages of soup Ramen noodles: beef-chicken-oriental-shrimp,

-2 bags of Cheetos chips-cheese 1 bag original flavor and 1 hot,

-1 bag tortilla chips, guacamole flavor,

-2 packs crackers-original flavor,

-1 pack of big flour tortillas,

-1 jar light mayo,

-1 jar sliced jalapeños- hot,

-1 jar sliced pickles,

-12 OZ. turkey bologna ,

-1 pack of small beef sausages,

-4 packs of light tuna in water ,

-plenty of garlic,

"I was thrown into the county jail for six months for not completing my year-long domestic violence classes. I was transferred to Wayside County jail to do my time. My money hadn’t caught up with me yet. But the guys I was hanging out with invited me to the spread. It made me feel like a part of a family. It took about a month before I get any money but I was invited to the spread every time they had one, which was about four times a week. The feeling of being accepted was overwhelming."

A performance that looks at the reality that California has the most people in prison anywhere. LAPD members show the mental and physical condition of this State of Incarceration and the resources needed to endure and recover from it. ‘History of Incarceration Song’ and ‘Making the Spread’ text by Riccarlo Porter with Debra Anderson, Celestine Williams, Vinson Fuller, Charles Jackson, Austin Hines, Bill Grant, Jimmy Johnson, Daniel Meza, Ibrahim Saba, Henriëtte Brouwers, Jennifer Campbell, Richard Butts, Sista Mary, Michael Coleman, Jesse Buenrostro, Wylie and ‘CO - Prisoner’ texts by John Malpede, ‘The Slave Boat’ by KevinMicahel Key, ‘Jumping Jacks’ by Anthony Taylor, ‘Buck Rogers Time‘ by Ronnie Walker, ‘Predatory Prisoner’ by Diop Ababacar, ‘My First Job’ by Elona Williams and more!

This food is for the ones who were denied food

For one day in Chile

For one week in Haiti

For one month in Louisiana

In the prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan, Guantanamo

The Federal Prison

The private prisons

For all of them, everybody eats today.

Feed them.

Feed them.

You can stop whenever you want to, but the hunger never ends.

You can stop whenever you want to, but it never ends.

The line never ends.

The hunger never ends.

Reach out to all the hungry in the universe.

Community performances STATE OF INCARCERATION:

* Thursday Aug. 12 at 7PM: Behavioral Systems SW Inc., 8141 Orion Avenue, van Nuys CA 91406

* Saturday Aug. 14 at 4PM: Jonahproject, corner 6^th and Crocker Street, Skid Row

* Saturday Aug. 21 at 6 PM: AMITY Foundation Re-entry Program, 3655 S. Grand Avenue, LA, CA 90007 

History of Incarceration activities; July 2010 through January 2011:

‘History of Incarceration’ activities are on-going, and include twice weekly performance workshops, new panels and public education events, performances and an installation.

STATE OF INCARCERATION performances began in June.  Additional performances, will take place at various community locations throughout the fall, with new material continually being developed and introduced.   A gallery filling installation of prison bunk beds will take place in November.  January 28 and 29 performances at HIGHWAYS Performance Space, will feature the installation of the prison bunks in the performance space, and the performances will take place within the constraints of this prison architecture. 

LAPD’s History of Incarceration Project is a Creative Capital Project and is funded, in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, The City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Performance Network Creation Fund and the Creative Capital Foundation.