Virtual theater: Formerly incarcerated men and women re-imagine Dante’s Divine Comedy and its resonance to issues related to social justice and mass incarceration. Featuring the music of Guest Artist Rapper/Activist BL Shirelle, Deputy Director of Die Jim Crow Records and the artwork of Ojore Lutalo created during the decades he spent in solitary confinement.
Written and performed in collaboration with students in Professor Ron Jenkins’s course “Performance Behind Bars.” Directed by Ron Jenkins.
The recorded performance will be screened over Zoom (and on YouTube), followed by a live Q&A with the director, performers, and guests.
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Ron Jenkins is visiting professor of religion & literature at Yale Institute of Sacred Music. A former Guggenheim and Fulbright Fellow, he has facilitated Dante workshops in prisons in Italy, Indonesia ,and the United States..