The end of the beginning...

and the start of a new fight. We have accomplished what we set out for. We have set the wheels in motion. Thousand Kites will be performed around the country and hopefully we will put an end to the injustice in the prison system... or at least educate others.This has been an amazing experience and I will continue the fight for justice through the stories and words of those who have suffered, as well as my own. Thank you all so much.
Much Love,
Skyler Goff

It's Showtime!

Final dress rehearsal tonight, and I couldn't be more pleased. Despite the fact that Appalshop was here filming and often putting a camera in their faces, the actors stayed focused and professional. If audience response is any indication, this will be a very powerful show.

Send Wishes to the "Thousand Kites" Team

Wednesday will be the world premiere performance of "Thousand Kites." Tonight, a film crew from Appalshop will arrive to film the final dress rehearsal as well as the Opening performance. Alan Elsner, author of Gates of Injustice, also arrives Wednesday for a two-day stay. Everyone involved is working very hard. We had a small invited audience last night who participated in a lively discussion after the play and documentary.

Feel free to click on "Comments" to send wishes to everyone involved in the show. I will post your notes in the dressing room!

Voices

Scott read a letter to us today that was from one of the inmates we met at Avery Mitchell. The whole letter was amazing, but the part that really affected me was where he talked about the political systems--specifically that felons lose the right to vote, rendering them voiceless. I get to perform the theme song for the play, also called Thousand Kites, which begins with the lines, "A voice for the voiceless/ I represent the ones that yearn to be heard/ So every word is a testimony/ This one is for my homie." Linking those two together, I almost broke out in tears. The gentlemen that we met, and the other inmates that we saw but did not meet, are truly voiceless, unable to speak out and be counted; by doing this play, we do become their voices, raising the questions they can't, and finding the change in our system that will keep our prisons from becoming a permanent dumping ground for our people.

If our every word is a testimony, this one is for Tony.

Monday's Prison Visit

How to describe this place? To start with, "K-chakk, clack," the sound of a door being unlocked and then pushed open. Big, strong, electronic locks, always operated remotely by an unseen gatekeeper. One in the lobby where you check in, a short trip across a manicured lawn, another heavy click, another door, mail room, activity room, kitchen, click clack, a vestibule, click clack, a sweep of emerald grass and slow-fire mountains in fall colors, a trio of squat gray double-cubes in between. How many doors in between "us" and "them?" How many doors between prisoners and public? How many locks between you and your loved ones? Ka-chack, clack. One step further. Ka-chack, clack. Barracks. Ka-chack, clack. Classroom. Ka-chack, clack. Gray hallway, sickly fluorescent lights. Ka-chack, clack. Yard, canteen. At five cents an hour, a Snicker's bar might be a week's earnings. Ka-chack, clack. Five dollars, no big deal, you say? A hundred hours at prison pay. Ka-chack, clack. Y'all come back.

The Prison

Imagine with me if you can, a beautiful valley. The colors of fall blaze in a brilliant splendor. The cool air cuts across rolling hills of surprisingly green grass. A place where nature could be at it's fullest,were it not for the monoliths of gray cement that protrude from the earth like an industrial blemish. In the court yard, the cold gray steps dig into the hills, climbing up to the maw of a monster of hard stone.It's large mouth is braced open by tall pillars, allowing us to see the rows of orange teeth stretching into its gullet. It's eyes are many and slitted, instilling fear into the hearts of all who enter, holding dominion over all.This is a place where men hide beneath their beds, shrouded in their blankets with the hope that the light shining through the fibers will remind them of the night sky. This is a place where men are reverted to the age of four or five, where the adults tell them they "are very good", and that they are "doing so well." It sucks the happiness right out of you, this terrible monster in the mountains, like the Jabberwock resting in the forest. And if you are ever lucky enough to leave, be sure not to look back , as not to be blinded by the light that glistens from its sharp steel claws.

Skyler Goff

Sometimes a Miracle Happens

Sometimes during the rehearsal process, a show that seemed filled with fits and starts suddenly comes together all at once and lights up the auditorium like rays of sunlight bursting through an iron-gray sky. Tonight was one of those moments. Suddenly there was a buoyant sense of energy that lifted the emotions higher than they had been before. The cast became a unit, supporting each other in every moment, and those positive thoughts made its way through the audience and made them part of the unit.

I let the cast go home early tonight, because they had done the show the way it needed to be done. Leave well enough alone.

Saturday, we start technical rehearsals, and an entirely different element -- lights, costumes, sound -- will come on the scene. For a few days, all the new things will set the production back while the actors integrate it all again. But then all the elements will come together as we near opening night.

For now, I think I'll enjoy tonight's glimpse of what could be.

Prison Visit

Sorry for this post being a little late, but it took a little while for the visit to sink in. It was an interesting experience going to the prison. One aspect that really troubled me was the grounds. Outside each of the three housing units where elaborate markers bearing the unit's name such as "Avery". The markers where very beautiful, some made of stone, others involving garden waterfalls. It bothered me because it seemed almost a mockery of what this place really is. They seemed to be a strange "home sweet home" sign for their prison. It made me feel like they where making fun of the prisoners there, that this was their home for the rest of their life. It was very unsettling.
On a lighter note I thought that the door closing in the segregation cell was a little funny to see everyone jump like that. I sure it was intended purely as a joke. However the entire segregation unit was very daunting. Rows of single cells, low lights, spartan atmosphere, and metallic furniture. It felt both like a factory and a prison at the same time. I was very surprised when they told the group that many of the inmates did not take advantage of the offered 45 minutes of time out of their cells, but when I saw where they would go, I would probably stay inside as well. Suffice it so say it was a cage big enough to stand and walk in a small circle and little else.
The corrections officers seemed to be very polite, and at the same time proud of their job. Their was evidence of a family atmosphere in unlikely places such as a notice board with race pools for the officers. All the officers seemed to know the other's name, and I believe I remember a conversation involving a monthly barbecue for the officers. This aspect was not surprising to me. If I where to work in a prison I would probably develop fast relationships with my fellow officers as well to help cope with the stress of working there.
I'm very thankful we had this opportunity and I hope some of the other company members will share their feelings as well.

Prison Visit

On Monday and again today I will be taking members of the cast and artistic team to visit Avery/Mitchell Correctional Institution in Spruce Pine. I have taught for about six years at Foothills and Western Youth in Morganton, so I am fairly well acquainted with the prison environment. My Drama Department colleagues Rob Bowen and Laura Facciponti have also done some prison teaching. However, I must admit that when we were taken into a segregation cell, I found myself feeling very uncomfortable -- especially when the cell door started to close (I think the officers were playing a little joke). The students on Monday's trip had many different reactions, which I hope they'll share. I found the visit very sad. So many young lives ruined, many of them for "crimes" like drug possession. While the United States has only 5% of the world's population, we have nearly 25% of the world's incarcerated population. Prisons have become a multi-billion dollar business in America -- we have built an average of 50 new prison each year for the past twenty years. Dubious laws such as "three strikes an your out" and the sentencing guidelines laws, as well as the closing of so many mental health facilities since the 1980s has led to an explosion in the prison population. At around $35,000 per year to house inmates, and much more in maximum prisons where the cost approaches $60,000 a year, we warehouse people from 16 to 85. Surely this money would be better spent on education, substance abuse rehab programs, and social services. Of course there are people who need to be removed from society -- we could never eliminate prisons entirely. But our use of prisons as a substitute for rational social policies and community involvement is a blot on our nation's soul.
As Fyodor Dostoevsky said, "A society should be judged not by how it treats its outstanding citizens but by how it treats its criminals." And, I might add, how it treats those who spend their lives guarding those criminals. In Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prisons, Alan Elsner quotes a prison guard as saying there are three things you get when you take a job as a correctional officer: a truck, a gun, and a divorce. Increased suicide rates, substance abuse, and domestic violence is the result of spending eight to twelve hours a day in the stressful conditions of our prisons. Anybody who is acquainted with Philip Zimbardo's Stanford Prison Experiment, recently written about in The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil, will recognize how the prison environment can turn normal people into abusers very, very quickly.
Perhaps it is time for us to consider whether our current approach to law and order is working, and whether there might be better ways to keep our society safe without destroying the lives of inmates, guards, their families, and their communities.

Rehersal Tonight

I feel like we really worked hard tonight on a lot of aspects of the show. I think the best way to judge how a rehearsal goes is how you feel when you leave. I felt great, and I think everyone else did as well. It seems to be shaping up very well. I hope you all feel the same way. Thanks for the hard work everybody!

Music, Music, Music.

Skyler Goff here wanting to express how blown away I was at how amazing last night was. Our Guitar Player Jeff has joined the crew and in quite a remarkable way. I got chills last night just watching him pick the songs up with just one listen to the music. He has truly brought new life into the show!

In addition to being one of the ASMs for this show, I'm also on the light hang crew. We started the hang last night and boy am I excited!

First off, I'd like to say that neither I nor the faculty thought I'd live to see the day that I would enjoy being thirty feet off the ground balancing an expensive piece of equipment on my legs over a hole in the floor. But, I have been nurtured into a true love of hanging lights. For most of the work I've done on shows here, I've gotten course credit - like everyone does - depending on how much time the job took and how well I did. For this hang, though, I just volunteered to be on the crew.

I get a deep sense of satisfaction while working with my hands, especially on something so fun. Also, time in the grid (the "ceiling" that the lights are hung from) affords one a bit of space to think. I enjoyed it, especially since working on this show has raised a few questions for me.

I can't help but wonder if there is a conflict here between so serious a message about what others want for and the fact that we're presenting it in such a decadent (for lack of a better term) art form. While it's true that as an educational setting, we reuse and recycle as much as we can, there is still quite a bit of waste in theatre. It comes with the territory. So what are we really saying here?

Any ideas?

Sad

We just found out today that one of our cast members has suffered a medical emergency and has withdrawn from the university. We all wish Russell the best of luck with his recovery, and we're sending him our thoughts and prayers. Tonight, we decided to dedicate the production to Russell.

The Hidden Benefits of Thousand Kites

Veronica Williams here. I just wanted to say how beneficial being on the cast for Thousand Kites has been for me. I have learned so many things, been taught so many lessons, and have made friends while in the process.

Coming to college has been extremely stressful for me personally. For the longest time I had a hard time talking to people because I am so shy. It was also especially hard for me because I had to leave the youth Theatre group I had been with for around 9 years. So naturally, I was worried when I came up here if I would "fit in" with this new theatre group. But I was so relieved. I was welcomed from the day that I stepped into Carol Belk Theatre. I knew that I had not only come to the right school, but picked the right co-curricular activity (and one of my majors as well) when Rachel and Russell-two of the chorus members in the show- how to project my voice properly without screaming. And that's not the only thing I have learned: I learned a new warm-up techinique from another one of the chorus members, a new line memorizing technique from Scott, and of course, about the U.S. prison system. I have also learned about UNCA theatre, it's terminology, and it's way of doing things, which I have a feeling will come in handy as I do more and more plays.

So, in short, I consider myself very lucky to be able to learn about and spread the word about such an important issue, while meeting awesome people within the theatre department. I feel honored to be given the opportunity to be in this play.

Some old time religion!

Skyler Goff here just wanting to let everyone know that we have begun to breath life into the production! Last night there were so many touching moments in the rehearsal! Casey and Chip were able to bring forth the beauty of the "razor-wire" poem with the beautiful acoustic music beneath, and Rachel went deep down into the deep southern baptist that resides in her soul and brought her empowering speech to life through the beauty of that good ol' gospel preacher's voice that she does so well. I am terribly excited to be a part of this production and I can't wait for opening night!

I've been to so many rehearsals that leave you feeling emotionally and physically exhausted, but tonight was not one of them. Rehearsal ended almost 5 hours ago and I'm still wired. I can't sit still and most certainly not my racing thoughts.

Tonight I witnesses the growth of art. I saw actors with very little direction find emotion so powerful that I was brought to the heights of worship and the depths of despair in one evening. This promises to be a show worth seeing.

I expected to feel drained by this show; I thought the emotionally weighty content mixed with my first try at ASMing would just be added to the pile of "crap I need to get done before I sleep." I had no idea that these rehearsals would restore me so much. I'm working with a dedicated, talented and hilarious group of people to produce a relevant, powerful play and I am really grateful for the respite at the end of my day.

"A scintillation, a moment's hesitation...the beauty that was not intended, but can be seen and kept as a gift. A gift."

Reactions and Reflections

Rachael Williams here, also known as "Chorus #5," making my debut post.
I just got released from tonight's rehearsal, and I am feeling a weight of emotions about this project; it's a heavy work, but it's the kind that makes you stronger rather than tiring you out.

There are a thousand thoughts and reactions swirling around in my head, but I hope to make a coherent string out of a few of them to share with you.

This play raises memories for me, some of them painful and some of them beautiful. There are so many stories told in it; the story of a girl raising her younger sibling, watching them head down the wrong path, and unable to do anything to help, the story of a woman in the city who feels that the police make victims of her children, the story of a young man's journey into the criminal life, and the reality he faces there, the story of a guard's first day on the job; it's all deeply moving, and I can recall some of my own friends and family going through the same.

This play has really changed my mind in a lot of ways. The stats aren't really new to me--I've been involved in research projects that made clear the really ugly ways an impersonal system can ruin lives. But the compassion of this play is inspiring. I come from a town where some of the law enforcement officers are like bandits themselves, selling drugs and using the profits for their own gain, abusing inmates, and bolstering their own fame with racism, ignorance and publicity stunts. The first chapter of our reading group book, "Gates of Injustice," is actually about my hometown. I had a pretty unforgiving attitude towards people in uniform as a result of growing up in an environment where anyone "darker than snow" had a lot to fear. But being a part of this project, watching one of my own friends portray the struggle of life in the uniform, has softened my attitude a great deal.

Unlike a lot of "activist theatre," this play doesn't seek to preach a message forcibly, or motivate the audience through anger and outrage; it encourages the whole community to reach out and reach in, to uplift and assist, and to move change with compassion, and that is something I think makes it unique, memorable, and important.

Rachael out!

ensemblism, agonism, and you

Last night Scott brought up the idea that this script, fundamentally different from traditional, representational works of drama, can function similarly when it comes to character. In other words: whereas the "well-made play" uses character action to drive the events of a plot- every character generally wanting a specific outcome from another character- this play seeks a direct reaction from the audience itself.
While it could be argued that all plays seek this to some extent, whether the reaction is delight, education, shock, or entertainment, the nature of this particular script makes the audience itself a character. If we view Thousand Kites as an ensemble piece, wherein the entire production crystallizes into one single protagonist, then the "opposing force", or antagonist, must manifest outside of the players. Why? In general, I think a play is considerably stronger if the objective of the protagonist is concrete vs. abstract-- a corporate lawyer wanting his colleague to step down due to an embezzlement scandal versus wanting justice, for example. Therefore, if there are essentially two characters, the players and the audience, and a clear objective is wanted by the ensemble (the definition of protagonist being "to struggle") then a strong, core opposing force must be decided on by the cast. Should it be ignorance? Passivity? The very idea that our current prison system works?

The next element that, I think, should be addressed by the production team is how to interact with the audience. While admittedly the playwright has already taken care of some of this, in regards to characters' text, something unique happens when actors choose tactics that seek to influence the audience. To start, the audience is made up of potentially five hundred different individual perspectives and emotions concerning the prison system, all of which are being lumped into one. While this may not be such a bad thing, similar to the act of a group of chorus singers harmonizing: some raising their voices while others fall- it is unavoidable that, even in the best of cases, the audience is being reduced to a preemptively-selected emotional mold.
While it can again be argued that all plays do this to some extent, Thousand Kites lacks the benefit of a fourth wall from which the audience can objectively observe. There is also much less of a story arc which, in a realistic performance, could go on regardless of the presence of an audience and find its own climax.
That being said, I have great faith in this play and this team. As a community-oriented, presentational work of drama, I think this play has potential that many other scripts- some of which only interact with their audience for two minutes during curtain call- may not have.

Should we find answers to these questions and ground ourselves in a deliberate cause, the results could be no less than staggering.


This ends my heady interlude!
-Brian

Good Morning, Wallens Ridge!

Hello, all!

This is your friendly neighborhood Assistant Stage Manager, Kim. The countdown is on - only 15 days until opening. We had a very productive production (tee hee) meeting this morning and I am getting stoked about all the pieces falling into place for the show. Everything is looking great and this promises to be a very powerful show that I am honored to be a part of.

See you all at the theatre!

Heard Somebody Call My Name

It's the weekend -- a time when I try to catch up from a busy week (strangely enough, they ask me to teach me classes even when I'm in rehearsal -- the meanies). What I have been finding, however, is that I can't leave the play behind because these darned songs keep sticking in my head!!! The play isn't a musical, but there are three songs in it that the company (and at certain times the audience) sing, and after a few times through they start playing over and over!

Tom Lawton, UNCA's lawyer, has offered to play guitar and banjo for the show, which is really cool. Not only can we ask him legal questions about the show (or, like, "Tom, I don't have a valid will -- how's about we make one during break?" *L*), but it will be great to have someone from the campus working with us. We also have a second musician who has also volunteered, so the two of them can play together, or serve as backup if the other can't be there for some reason.

It was great having the Appalshop people, Nick Szuberla and Dale Mackie, here for a few days to do some filming. They will be back when we travel to Avery-Mitchell prison for a visit by the members of the cast, and then again for the final dress and first performances. During that last trip, they will bring with them a New York cinematographer that they've worked with to get some really good footage. Very exciting. What may result is a 26-minute film to be shopped to regional PBS or community stations, or it may just be a couple 5-minute YouTube videos. Regardless, it has been great getting to know the Appalshop artists, and I hope the relationship will continue in the future.

The show is blocked now, after 6 rehearsals, and the cast is memorized. An impressive group. Nick and Dale wanted to film about 10 -15 mins of the cast sitting in a circle discussing their thoughts about the play and the issues, and an hour later they were still talking and filming. The participants were discussing how the issues related to other classes they've had, personal connections, and all kinds of stuff. I was fascinated and inspired. If anyone needs to see how a play fits into a liberal arts education, all they have to do is watch that video (which I'll have a copy of later).

Well, I think I'll go put on some music and try to get "I Heard Somebody Call My Name" out of my head!

how to change the world without even knowing it.

***This is an essay I wrote for a humanities event paper, but I think it applies to this project

Activist Theater and the New Renaissance:

how to change the world without even knowing it.

While I have attended a lecture by John Waters, a concert by The Misfits (a legendary punk rock band), and the play The Jugal Book, all of which I would think would be fitting cultural events for this course, I want to write about something else. I want to write about the idea of art changing the world. I am in a play called Thousand Kites, which is about super maximum prisons and the effects they have had on the communities involved. During last night’s rehearsal, we had two members of Appalshop, the source for this play and coinciding documentary, come to visit and film our rehearsal process. What they are involved in inspired me, and gave me a sense of the way that the arts can change peoples lives. They work at a place in which the community comes to make art of all sorts, from film to music to theater to poetry, which often focuses on community and world issues.

This is why I want to write about Thousand Kites for a class about the medieval and renaissance world. Because the artist during the renaissance were doing the same thing that we are trying to do now: through their art, they were changing the way people looked at the world, even if they didn’t know it. I think that’s what art in its highest form does. It offers people a different way of looking at things, thereby expanding their consciousness about the world. So while my focus as an actor is narrowed to try to truthfully convey a character’s story, that process is a microcosm for what is happening at places like Appalshop. By connecting to other people’s stories, music, art, message, our perspective on the world is changed.

During the renaissance, people began to view a focus on nature not as a pagan activity but as an act of devotion itself. Doubtless, this shift was encouraged by the Christian artist whose own perspectives were changing. In the same way, it is the through the changing my own mind that I express a different way of seeing the world in my art. My experience last night to me is a perfect example of this. For a long time I have had doubts about how much art can have an effect on the world. I have felt that theater is something I am passionate about, but not something that could necessarily change people’s lives. By meeting people who have done what seemed to me improbable, changing lives with art, I was changed. They have a belief in the ability of art to change the world, and through that belief, I was changed. So I am then inspired to change others not through telling them what I think the truth is, but by acting and living from that place.

We learn in class that the term “renaissance” is really just a made up term. The people from this time didn’t see themselves being “reborn”, or believe that the world of the past had died. Yet, there was a huge shift in thinking during that period, and much of it was influenced by the writers and artists of that time. So, I wonder, what if we were to have a renaissance of our own? What if we are in the middle of it, and we don’t even know it? My mind was changed last night. A seed was planted, unconsciously, in my heart. Perhaps I will plant that seed, unknowingly, in someone else. This is how changes in thinking occur. I have read that it takes 11% of people to create a massive shift in consciousness. That is the critical mass at which point knowledge spreads like wildfire. So perhaps we will soon reach a point in which 11% of people come to believe that we can use our creativity, our art, to profoundly change the world for the better. Perhaps then we will have our own renaissance.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Hello all,

My name is Chip and I am playing the Guard for Thousand Kites. I hope you are all excited about this project and will come see the product of our work. I would like to show to you some of the changes that are taking place in preparations for this play...

Today we took some publicity photos for posters advertising the show. I was ready to have my current appearance be changed to make for a more realistic character. I realize that my current hair style and facial hair are not consistent with a prison guard. It was however, a little bit of a shock when I saw myself in the mirror with my hair slicked back. I would like to share with you just two photos, a before and after, so you can see how Ida, the costume mistress, can change a goof ball into someone resembling an adult. I hope you enjoy...

Welcome to the Blog for UNC Asheville's Production of Thousand Kites

This blog will be a place where anyone involved in the production of the University of North Carolina at Asheville's production of Donna Porterfield's powerful play Thousand Kites will write about their thoughts, feelings, ideas, and experiences leading up top the November 14 2007 opening.

Thousand Kites is a pay about the effects of the American prison system on inmates, guards, their families, and their communities. The play compiles the actual words and writings of people connected in some way to the Wallens Ridge Supermax Prison in Big Stone Gap, VA. It is performed along with a showing of the documentary Up the Ridge, which was created by Appalshop in Whitesburg, KY -- a brilliant grassroots organization devoted to creating films, CDs, radio shows, and theatre about the coal mining communities of Appalachia. Appalshop created a radio show called Holler 2 the Hood, which allowed the families of inmates incarcerated in Wallens Ridge to call and have greetings broadcast over the radio to the inmates. From that radio show came many of the words and letters that comprise the text of Thousand Kites.

In the spring of 1997, I took students from my Theatre of the Oppressed class to visit Appalshop. While we were there, we had the great fortune of meeting Amelia Kirby, one of the producers of Up the Ridge (along with Nick Szuberla). She screened Up the Ridge for us, and everyone was blown away. At the time, she indicated that Roadside Theatre, the theatrical wing of Appalshop, was creating a play to accompany the documentary. We later met Donna Porterfield and Dudley Cocke, two of the leaders of Roadside, who told us more about the Thousand Kites project. By the time we left late that night, we were truly excited about the project.

This August, I attended the AlternateROOTS conference outside of Asheville, and I was thrilled to see that Amelia Kirby would be there doing a session on the Thousand Kites project. When I got there, she was handing out copies of the completed script! Well, even though I was scheduled to do a different production in November, I immediately decided that the opportunity to participate in this project was too good to pass up. I pitched the idea to my colleagues in the Drama Department who, God bless 'em, were a little stunned at the sudden change of direction but gave the project the green light.

Since then, we have created a webpage where those involved with the project can gather their research. I have also organized two reading circles comprised of cast members, faculty, staff, and community members to read Alan Elsner's excellent book, Gates of Injustice: The Crisis in America's Prison. One member of the reading circle, Patti Digh, wrote about reading the book on her blog 37 Days, and as a result, she received an email from Mr. Elsner thanking her for mentioning the book. A series of emails resulted in an incredibly generous offer by Mr Elsner to come to campus for the first two performances of Thousand Kites and speak about his book and the issues surrounding the prison system. Playwright Donna Porterfield will also be attending the opening performance, which we be the world premiere of a fully-staged production of the play. And there is a possibility that Amelia Kirby and/or Nick Szuberla will attend as well.

We began rehearsals Wednesday, October 1oth and are starting slowly while we wait for the Drama Dept's production of Jungalbook to complete it's run at Diana Wortham Theatre November 17 - 19.

It is my hope that everyone involved will be inspired to contribute something to this blog. If you read this and are interested, please feel free to comment on anything we write. If you wish to communicate privately, my email is swalters@unca.edu.

Scott Walters
Assoc. Professor
UNC Asheville Drama Dept.