[Peace] TONIGHT 8pm: Insurgent Theatre IN THE BELLY, ucimc

[mark enslin]

Prison abolitionist play tonight at the IMC, 8pm. Given the intersecting
trends in US prisons and US militarism, this play and its discussion might
be of interest to AWARE members...
--Mark Enslin

"Insurgent Theatre is bringing their play IN THE BELLY to the
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center on Wednesday August 17th at 8pm.
IN THE BELLY depicts long term solitary confinement in order to begin a
critique of the entire US prison system. This collaboratively developed
workshop piece draws from many prisoner accounts, audience feedback and
close study of history, including ideas from Michel Foucault's Discipline
and Punish. One third of the money raised will go to... supporting Ohio
Prisoners via RedBird Prison Abolition.

"***This show contains nudity, violence and other sad realities of the US
prison system.

"MORE ABOUT IN THE BELLY:
In the belly is where things digest, where they are broken down so their
value can be extracted. This is where things are made to rot. If our society
is a beast, it's belly is the prison system. This new work from Insurgent
Theatre seeks to manifest imprisonment on stage, overlays it with critical
analysis of the system, and follows up with in-depth discussion about
abolishing prison in America.

"In the Belly was collaboratively created and performed by Weslie Coleman,
Kate Pleuss, and Ben Turk in the winter of 2011. The cast imagined
themselves in three of the 25,000 long term solitary confinement cells in
America. They're performing what they discovered in a series of scattered
moments, regimented actions and critical perspectives. After their first
tours, the cast continued to develop and workshop the play, incorporating a
theatrical adaptation of Michel Foucault's Discipline and Punish.

"'Most Americans seem to relate to prison as an unmentionable aspect of our
society, something we all fear and regret, but few of us want to even
imagine. For this project we have challenged ourselves to discover and share
our notions of prison life and to imagine this system acting on our bodies
and minds.' -Cast Members

"MORE ABOUT REDBIRD PRISON ABOLITION: RedBird Prison Abolition is a group of
people in Columbus, OH who want to see the prison system come to an end. The
all-volunteer group has no budget, substantial funding or formal mission
statement. RedBird's activities are guided by correspondence with
incarcerated people because prison abolition ought to begin with the needs
of those most directly effected by the system. Things they've done include:
writing prison pen pals, connecting prisoners with needed resources, raising
funds for legal defense, hosting events, publishing materials, and creating
critical discussions about the US prison system. One third of funds raised
from In the Belly will go to RedBird.

"MORE ABOUT INSURGENT THEATRE:
Insurgent Theatre strives to connect performing arts with radical struggles,
to make theatre that is relevant, engaging, challenging and useful for those
who confront the US police state and global capitalist empire. We've been
making original theatre since 2003 and frequently touring the country since
August, 2008."
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