Acting Out: How a Prison Theatre Workshop Broke Free - Hardcover

by Richard Hoehler (Author)

When Richard Hoehler first walked through the doors of a medium security prison in upstate New York, he assumed it would be a one-time thing. As a busy freelance writer, actor and teacher he had nonetheless agreed to drive upstate to teach an acting class for inmates pro bono. At the very least he hoped the experience might give him new ideas for his teaching on the outside.

What he could not have anticipated was the beginning of an odyssey that led Hoehler to an incredibly popular series of acting and writing workshops and mounting seven full productions with prison inmates--men whom society has written off and locked away as irredeemable. In this account of his journey working with the men, we witness a rare kind of theatrical magic. Within the incredibly dehumanizing and often arbitrary prison system, participants work to express themselves and connect with dramatic works where anger, compassion, forgiveness and tears pour forth in the safety of the workshop.

It is clear that Hoehler is not a "do-gooder" but simply there to do good work. This is the remarkable story of theatre's ability to change lives even in the most unlikely of settings.

Author Biography

Richard Hoehler is a celebrated writer, actor, and director. He conducted the Random House writing workshops for teenagers for 25 years. Currently he teaches at City College New York, Stella Adler Studios, and HB Studios, and is a member of the Alliance of Acting Teachers and the Dramatists Guild. Richard has created four solo shows and received the OOBR Award for Best Solo Performance. In 2009 his play Fathers & Sons premiered Off Broadway. He was the director of the Off Broadway hit show The Bullpen, andhis own solo show, I of the Storm, ran Off Broadway at the Gym at Judson in 2017. His new solo show, E, is currently in production.