Gwynne Watkins Gwynne Watkins

How Prison Theater is Changing Lives

In two articles for Reasons To Be Cheerful, I look at the incredible effects of arts programs in prisons.

I’ve been writing lately for Reasons to be Cheerful, the solutions journalism website founded by musician, activist, and all-around fascinating guy David Byrne. Their goal is to bring some optimism to news media, backed by hard data that shows how people are really changing the world for the better. It’s a wonderful mission that I’m happy to be a part of, and it gave me an opportunity to write about a subject I’ve been obsessed with for a while: theater in prisons.

Curtain call photo of Rehabilitation Through the Arts’ production of the musical ‘1776’ at Sing-Sing

Curtain call photo of Rehabilitation Through the Arts’ production of the musical ‘1776’ at Sing-Sing

Creative Freedom explores how prison arts can be a radical tool for rehabilitation.

An American Revolution at Sing-Sing describes the experience of seeing a Broadway musical performed by inmates, for family, friends and correctional officers.

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Gwynne Watkins Gwynne Watkins

Space Pirates!

Space Pirates, the sublimely silly children's musical I wrote with Denver Casado and Betina Hershey, returned to its original stage this weekend for four performances by the Garden Players of Forest Hills.  We're hoping to make this available to schools as soon as August; it's written for a large group of kids to perform, with many featured parts. Contact me if you'd like more information!

Space Pirates, the sublimely silly children's musical I wrote with Denver Casado and Betina Hershey, returned to its original stage this weekend for four performances by the Garden Players of Forest Hills.  We're hoping to make this available to schools as soon as August; it's written for a large group of kids to perform, with many featured parts. Contact me if you'd like more information!

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