We Move Forward Together: A Prison Theater Exchange Program Among Three Universities in the United States and Brazil

Abstract

In 2013, the Prison Creative Arts Project at the University of Michigan and Teatro na Prisão at the Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro began an international exchange of university-based prison theater programs. The theater faculty at the Universidade do Estado de Santa Catarina joined the exchange in 2016 and began a new prison theater program at a women’s facility in Florianópolis, Brazil. Together, these three universities not only share best practices and resources but form a community of support and understanding as they engage in a highly specialized and challenging creative process inside prisons.