SUNY Potsdam Presents Playwriting Across Prison Walls Play Festival

SUNY Potsdam Department of Theatre & Dance Presents Reading of Original Short Plays by Playwrights Incarcerated at Riverview Correctional Facility

Potsdam, NY (09/11/2019) — For the second year, the Department of Theatre and Dance at SUNY Potsdam will present the Playwriting Across Prison Walls Play Festival, a staged reading of five short plays by playwrights incarcerated at Riverview Correctional Facility in Ogdensburg, N.Y.

The free Playwriting Across Prison Walls Play Festival will be presented on Friday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m., in the Black Box Theater, located in the College's Performing Arts Center.

Playwriting Across Prison Walls is the beginning of great community theatre -- providing a platform to those behind bars. In addition to the performance at SUNY Potsdam, there will be a staged reading at Riverview Correctional Facility in late September.

The five plays will be read by SUNY Potsdam students Austin Antle, Mal Brewster-Holland, Elinor Greenway, Riley Keyser, Devin LaBare, Joseph Pease, Inuer Pichardo, Isabel Wildflower and Monti Wilkins. Mia Bodine is the stage manager.

With months of script development, Assistant Professor Rivka Rocchio worked closely with the men at Riverview Facility to help them expand their ideas and make sense of their findings, as well as create cohesive plays to be put on stage.

The playwrights and title of the plays are as follows:

Carlos Francis, "Untitled"
Thomas Carter-Love, "The Grass is Greener"
Isma McGhee, "PEACE or PIECE"
Corey "Harlow" McWhirter, "Lysergic Laughs"
Richard Sanders, "A Different Tale"

Admission to the staged reading is free, and run-time for the show is approximately 45 minutes. A talk-back will follow the performance.

For more information on this performance, please contact the Department of Theatre and Dance, at (315) 267-2556.

From directing, choreographing, acting and dancing, to designing and technical work, theatre and dance are highly collaborative art forms at SUNY Potsdam. Students and professionals engage in creative problem solving, requiring the setting and meeting of long-term goals, and the analysis and understanding of movement and dramatic literature. For more information about SUNY Potsdam's Department of Theatre and Dance, visit http://www.potsdam.edu/theatre.

About SUNY Potsdam:

Founded in 1816, The State University of New York at Potsdam is one of only three arts campuses in the entire SUNY system. SUNY Potsdam's arts curriculum offers the full palette: music, theatre, dance, fine arts and creative writing. No matter the discipline, people from all backgrounds can find their creative compass at Potsdam, with myriad arts immersion experiences available for both campus and community. To learn more, visit http://www.potsdam.edu.

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Joseph

Pease