[didgeridoo plays]
-In 1992, I started teaching
weekly classes as a volunteer
at a federal women's prison.
Every Friday, I spent the day
with a group of women prisoners.
My work with them is shaped
by 20 years of experience
as a theater artist and teacher.
I remember my first
day at the prison.
The friendly campus
look obviously deceiving.
The combination of barbed
wire and flowers, startling.
I feel disoriented and unsure,
until I get to work
with the women.
What is it they
need, I ask myself.
Wanting to be seen,
wanting to be heard?
I make all of us
give a good scream.
-[screams]
-It's enough! You're crazy!
-And the anxious face of a
guard appears in the door.
We all break into laughter.
This is the beginning
of our experiment
in breaking the walls with love.
[women sing improvised song]
-Mommy, what's it
like living in prison?
It's like living in a bathroom
with someone you never knew.
ALL: How would you like
to live in a bathroom
with someone you never knew?
[women all whisper at once]
-Open your heart.
Hear what I say....
[ominous music]
-I'm into my 15th
year in prison.
-The judge himself gave me five.
-I got 10 years.
-Minimum mandatory
is 20 years in prison.
