A screening of the documentary, Shakespeare Behind Bars will take place on Wednesday, February 3, 2016 at 7:30pm in Hollis E. Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. A Q&A session with director Curt L. Tofteland will immediately follow the screening.

Shakespeare Behind Bars takes William Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, with its violent seas, windswept island, crucial connection to nature, and underlying theme of forgiveness, and brings it into a prison, the ultimate venue of confinement. The result is an extraordinary documentary about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem–in a place where the very act of participation in theatre is a human triumph and a means of personal liberation. 

Written and directed by Hank Rogerson and produced by Jilann Spitzmiller, this documentary embarks on a year-long journey with the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troupe, whose individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of The Tempest as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons.

Shakespeare Behind Bars is a tremendously moving film, where the protagonists are not merely defined by their crimes but are afforded dignity and a fresh chance to look truth in the eye, and embrace it.

For more information about Shakespeare Behind Bars, visit http://www.shakespearebehindbars.org/ 

Cosponsored by University Lectures Committee, Office of the Vice Provost, Cornell Prison Education Program, Association of Graduates in Theatre, and Ordinary People. 

This event is free and open to the public. A reception in Klarman Hall Atrium will follow.