“It was so real. This was the closest I’ve ever come to being able to understand what prison is like.”- Bobby Moore, audience member

“I really loved that I could tell that the artists who’d been in prison and solitary confinement had written this play. It was in the details that reminded me of both the struggles and community in prison.”
-Emile Deweaver, Audience Member and Formerly Incarcerated Co-founder of Prison Renaissance


”The BOX was very powerful. It brought up some hard realizations around all the hurt we’ve created with our prison system, and the amount of work required to repair all the broken lives.” -Stacy Crinks, The Battery

“This tender, funny and sharp play about humans that live in conditions of solitary confinement within the prison industrial complex is so necessary in our world,” Jihan McDonald

Transformative Theater is a broad term, generally applied to the use of plays and other theatrical experiences to address social justice challenges, using storytelling to bring awareness to or connection over a shared real world concern.

For us, transformative theater is rooted in healing and action. We use an immersive theater experience as a springboard to create impact. Each production ends with a survivor-led healing circle, using the experience of the show as a way to focus on collective healing and restorative justice. Transformative theater reaches out beyond the show itself.  – –

Our tour emphasizes community outreach and engagement.  In addition to performing our show, The BOX, we:

• create space for legislators and advocacy groups to come together around the experience to discuss policy impacting the use of solitary confinement.
  
  
• organize educational outreach opportunities with universities, community organizations, and advocacy groups.
  
  
• promote collective and personal healing through artistic ritual including healing circles and by creating a network of survivors and those affected by solitary. This connection allows those who have a shared lived experience to heal together

Ultimately, The End of Isolation Tour will create space for us all to envision a transformed correctional system- -one rooted in healing the wounds caused by the racially-biased, over-criminalized use of mass incarceration and solitary confinement in the United States.

The BOX has already changed lives and legislation. Performed at conferences, well-known theaters and in the former penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, the show has not only reached thousands of people, but also served as a powerful organizing tool for activists and politicians in California. Former California Senator Mark Leno affirmed that the the 2016 performances contributed to the passing of his bill ending the use of solitary in juvenile facilities throughout California.

This tour isn’t just about ending isolation. It’s about beginning transformation.

The BOX goes beyond traditional theater to impact communities and policy. The BOX and the tour amplifies local programs for collective healing and restorative justice. Each performance and each stop on the tour knits together advocacy groups, anti-solitary campaigns, legislators, educators, and people impacted by solitary and mass incarceration in healing circles, educational outreach and policy discussions to bring about a more just future.

As Jon Comstock from DeCarcerate Arkansas says “This tour will act like a booster-shot that will infuse the community with energy for action and help us to the finish line.”

To learn more about solitary confinement and it’s alternatives, visit Unlock The Box and Solitary Watch.