Shakespeare and Juvenile Justice
This innovative and intrepid program, now in its eighth year, sends our TSC teaching-artists into residence with incarcerated youth in two Shelby County facilities. We serve the juveniles at Jail East and the juveniles at The Hope Academy at Shelby County Juvenile Detention Center. We have served over 600 youths, many of whom were awaiting trial for serious adult crimes and are facing the very real possibility of long imprisonment. In twice-weekly sessions, students are invited to use Shakespeare as a means to express themselves. Annually, we record participants’ boosts in literacy, kindness, generosity, a blossoming hope for life outside of prison, and a genuine love for Shakespeare’s stories.
TSC instructors will be consistent with the program for the entire year, giving the teenagers a familiar presence of adults who are creative, supportive, and who anticipate their eventual freedom and re-integration.
This project is a part of Shakespeare in American Communities, a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest.
The National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest presents Shakespeare in American Communities. Tennessee Shakespeare Company is one of ten nonprofit organizations across the nation selected to participate to engage youths within the juvenile justice system with the words of Shakespeare through theatre education programs.
Poetic Justice
For the second year, we served youths incarcerated at Shelby County detention centers with a four-week summer program titled Poetic Justice funded, in part, by the Tennessee Arts Commission. A collaborative effort between TSC and Shelby County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO), Poetic Justice seeks to help juveniles find their voices and express themselves through poetry, and provide them with an opportunity to process their emotions and connect meaningfully with their peers.
Our hope is that the Summer Camp offers its young participants an alternative experience with poetry: one that is encouraging and accessible, embracing freedom and self-reflection.
For most of the participants, Poetic Justice is the only programming they received during the summer. Poetic Justice, in part, owes its thanks to a six-year relationship that we have cultivated with staff and administrators at both Jail East and Memphis’ Juvenile Court.
Due to anonymity concerns for these minors, they were not permitted to perform their works publicly. Participants shared their works and performed in front of their peers, TSC staff, and SCSO staff at a private reading. Their poetry was performed by TSC actors and recorded to allow their words to be heard and their efforts to be witnessed within the community, while maintaining anonymity. The poems were compiled and arranged by the poets. All poems written by poets of color were read by actors of color. The poets chose their own pen names to protect their anonymity.
You can listen to the recording of the work written by this year’s Poetic Justice participants below!
For more information about these programs, or to find out how you can support them, contact Stephanie Shine; stephanieshine@tnshakespeare.org, (901) 759-0620.