Seattle Gay Scene gets so many Press Releases about various and sundry upcoming gay and fabulous events that it leaves one a bit jaded about it all, but occasionally something comes our way that makes us sit up straight and stop daydreaming about Jon Hamm becoming our new husband, Lady Gaga’s latest travesty/delight of an outfit, or an update on the new flesh being cast for the next season of “True Blood” and focus on something local, artistic and socially responsible for the greater good of our community, if not humanity…which in this case would be a press release about the Pat Graney Dance Company’s Keeping The Faith Prison Project and their celebration of the 15th Anniversary of the project which culminates with public performances of the works created by female prison inmates on May 7th and 8th at the Mission Creek Correctional Center for Women located just south of Bremerton. And, exactly what do they do in this project? I’ll be lazy and quote from the website:
The Pat Graney Company has conducted this three-month program of movement, writing, and visual art in Washington State Corrections Centers for the past 15 years. Each year, the program culminates in performance of the women’s own movement, writing, and visual art for 100 members of the general public as well as for over 100 of their incarcerated peers and prison staff. Keeping the Faith creates a rare forum for cultural development among incarcerated women by facilitating the exploration and expression of both individual and collective identity.
In a nutshell, the Pat Graney company spends three months conducting various workshops for the women involving artistic expressions of their life experiences and hopes for the future in written words, dance, and visual art. The success of the project has led to similar projects being created all over the world, with great success. And inspired by the YouTube sensation of the Filipino male inmate’s tribute to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, the women of Mission Creek will stage their version choreographed by program coordinator and ex-offender Shan Peña. This all sounds amazing and fascinating (and a tiny bit scary since you’ll be locked up in prison for the show!) and if you’re interested in being in the audience for the staged performance in May you’ll need to send an email to shan@patgraney.org by April 13th. And why do you need to do that? Because you need to be “cleared prior to attending” which seems to be the polite way of saying they’re going to run some sort of background check on you before allowing you inside the prison for the show and if you have any warrants out, you’d be dumb to apply…
For more information on the Pat Graney Company and the Keeping the Faith project, (as well as their other amazing projects) check out the website. And write your favorite Hollywood studio and demand they turn this story into a movie…Hollywood needs more inspirational stories with great roles for women. After M’onique wins her inevitable Oscar next month, THIS should be her next project…
–Michael Strangeways
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
