- Coming up on "Sparking Hope: The Power of Improv," Rikers Island, the Notorious jail complex in New York City houses over 6,000 individuals who endure the lived experiences of daily life behind bars.

In this environment, one organization is reimagining what support can look like within detention facilities.

Join us as we uncover how New York City's Drama Club is using the power of improv to heal, empower, and create a path towards lasting change for the incarcerated and their transition to life on the outside.

(gentle piano music) (bright music) I'm Dr. Heather McCauley, social epidemiologist and Associate Professor in the College of Social Science at Michigan State University.

Welcome to "Sparking Hope: The Power of Improv."

Together with Dr. Joanne Smith-Darden, Associate Professor, and the Ruth Kohler-endowed Professor of Children's Services, we co-founded SPARK Research for Social Change, an initiative to promote equity and social justice through community-partnered research.

As researchers committed to ending violence in all of its forms, we are continually inspired by the transformative power of performance arts in creating safe, inclusive, and resilient communities.

Through our work, we were introduced to Josie Whittlesey, the founder of New York City's Drama Club.

Today we share Drama Club's incredible story of how unscripted performance fosters hope and resilience for those who need it most.

First up, we go inside Rikers Island to discover the transformative impact Drama Club has on incarcerated youth.

Through the power of improv, you'll see how this organization fosters self-expression and resilience in a place where those qualities are often out of reach.

And how this work is showing effective results that can bring a sense of hope and humanity to those who are too often forgotten.

(gentle piano music) - There's a quote by Martha Graham that she had in her biography, and it said, "Theater is a verb before a noun, an action before a place, a gesture, an opportunity to actually make a connection with someone."

- There you go.

- Drama Club is a program that teaches incarcerated and court-involved youth in the prison system within New York City, primarily all of the juvies inside of the city and Rikers Island.

We also teach students who were in confinement and are now out.

- Lights, camera, action, (groups laughs) lights, camera, action.

(performer in black laughs) - Don't fall, now.

- I don't know if I can do that.

(audience laughs) How do I look?

- You look (laughs) runway ready Runway ready.

Oh no.

- You can't.

(pants) - [Audience Member] They can't come off.

(indistinct) - Wait, wait.

- We gonna get punished!

- [Cesar] Hey, hey, guys, guys, guys.

(crowd applauds) (gentle guitar music) - For our young people who are in our custody, who are in detention while their cases are pending, we see them engage in a fun, therapeutic way that allows them to build resilience and self-regulation and engage in these activities in a safe space with caring adults and their peers.

- I'd like to say we're like a little mobile drama club like you would find in a high school, but we go to the kids because they can't come to us.

It's a place to like, form those bonds with each other, feel safe, be able to process what you wanna process.

Be a little goofy, maybe be a little nerdy.

It's just a true drama club.

I want it to be a place where people feel they can be themselves, like truly authentically be themselves.

(bright guitar music) - Drama Club has these foundational rules, the rules of improv.

The first one is the one I think that's most known.

It's yes, and.

Essentially what you're saying is anything that's thrown out there, you're gonna say yes and you're adding something.

So if I start a scene off with you and I say, "Oh, grandson, there's aliens attacking us," you wouldn't be like, "I'm not your grandson.

And there's no aliens outside."

You know, you add on something and we keep the scene going.

- There's a lot of, you know, agency that can be lost when you're kind of thrown into an environment where you don't get to make a lot of choices for yourself and talk a lot about like, yes, and, you can make any decision.

I'm a doctor, I'm on Mars, wherever you are in the scene, and kind of everyone just has to roll with it.

And there's something really beautiful, I think, when agency is lost, to be able to practice that in an environment you know that whatever you do is gonna be accepted.

- So he is, oh!

- [Audience Member] Oh my God.

- I broke it.

(laughs) How you do this?

How you do this?

It's just, it's like, oh no, that's not going back in.

It's not going back in.

So here's the deal- - You're on your own.

- What?

(audience laughs) - Our second rule is no violence.

And what we mean (gentle guitar music) by that is clearly no, we're working with young people.

(laughs) So clearly no physical violence.

Again, we want safety, but also we don't want violence in terms of like emotional violence or violence with your words, because we're hoping that we can elicit conflict resolution, which brings us to rule number three, which is kind of like, what's the beef or what's the conflict?

We're hoping that throughout the scene, the young people can get to the essence of what is actually going on.

- What are some of the conflicts that we saw in the scene - Lost the ring.

- Yeah?

- The shoes.

I couldn't get the ring off.

- [Cesar] You couldn't get the ring off.

- Couldn't get the ring off.

- And the second scene, what was the conflict there?

- Broke the heel.

- [Cesar] I broke the heel.

I should have known better.

- Shame.

- Then we have the three Ws, which is the who, the what and the where.

It's figuring out who you are in the scene, where you are and what's going on, (performers laugh) more context to what's happening.

- Do you hear anything?

- No, I don't think she's coming.

- You don't think she coming?

Yeah, yeah.

Listen, listen, listen.

I'm scared here, man.

(audience laughs) You know, cousin- - Want me to go first?

- Well, no, you know, cousin Jimmy said that she locks up all the bad kids and I don't know what.

(audience laughs) - They're still-.

- But do you hear?

Ssh, listen, listen.

- [Audience Member] Help, help!

(audience laughs) (upbeat electronic music) - I heard something.

(audience laughs) I heard something, I'm not tripping.

- And then our final rule (gentle guitar music) of improv is make your scene partner look good.

I really think that this is almost equal to yes, and, because it's taking the focus off of yourself and it's putting it on another person.

If you can get into a room surrounded by people who are totally just focused on the other people in the room and making them look good, everyone is feeling this amount of safety in the process.

- So one other thing is, what do you think helps you the most when you're acting with your partner?

- You know you're not doing it by yourself.

- Yes, yes, the collectivity in it all.

Like, I know I'm not alone.

I know I'm not gonna get beat up by grandma all over, you know?

(group laughs) - So making a scene partner look good.

Can you, just with your own words, tell me a little bit about what that means to you?

- That you're not selfish, you're selfless, if anything.

Like, you know, let somebody else shine.

I was kind of nervous, "What should I say?"

- But that's why I'm making a scene partner look good.

If I look bad, you look bad.

If you look good, I look good.

So we looking good.

- Period.

- We're looking good, hooray!

- When we attempt to connect all of those rules of improv into our curriculum week by week and really to tie those rules into our everyday life, 'cause even as I was just talking about the rules, you can just see that if we yes, and'ed more in life, we'd probably be living in a better, healthier world.

We have probably have better relationships.

If we could get to the heart of the matter in conflict, we'd probably be able to build more security within our interpersonal relationships.

So I think that the good theater skills are the good life skills for the young people.

- Sometimes being incarcerated is the safest place a young adult has ever been.

(gentle music) So they know they have a bed, they know they're gonna get three meals a day.

So to trust other people becomes a frightening experience.

And what Drama Club has transcended is this ability to come to a space to play, to be vulnerable, to be themselves, feel safe, and they build relationships with people like Josie and her team.

(performer in beige claps) (audience laughs) - I see a lot of light, I see a lot of laughter and fun.

It's not always easy to talk about our trauma or anything that we've been through in our life, and art has a different way to express ourselves.

- We hear all the time, it's like, you took our mind off of our situation.

Play does that.

Even if we're there, they still have that play.

Sometimes they play these games when we're not there.

It's a toolbox, gets you outside of like, the dark walls of Rikers or Horizons or Crossroads.

- Like, sometimes you forget that, you know, you're not in jail, so- - Yeah.

- Yes.

- This is an escape to say, because like- - It's like you're being out.

- Yeah, it's like you're trapped in all day and it absolutely sucks.

But to see you guys and to get out some of those emotions- - Yes.

- It feels good.

- Of course.

- I feel like the programs help a lot.

I'm doing more here than I do on the outside, to be honest.

But I like Drama Club a lot.

It makes me happy, yeah.

(static buzzes) - Next, how a podcast is providing an intimate look at life behind bars in California's oldest prison.

The audio series "Ear Hustle," the first podcast to be produced entirely inside a prison, has steadily grown in popularity by laying out in vivid detail the everyday experiences of inmates at San Quentin.

Jeffrey Brown has our story.

- [Jeffrey] Sitting just north of San Francisco, San Quentin is a California state facility that's home to some 4,000 men, most under medium security, but it includes more than 700 on death row.

- Hello, hello, hello.

- [Jeffrey] It's a place known for its education and work opportunities for prisoners, including a media lab, where we watch the show's co-host in action.

- First, are y'all called L7s?

- [Jeffrey] Inmate Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor, a San Francisco-based artist who's been volunteering in San Quentin since 2011.

- Point that one out to her.

That one up- (Nigel laughs) - The pair hit it off and quickly built an easy rapport that's become the backbone of the show.

Last year, a pilot of the series won an international contest put on by PRX's Radiotopia that helped introduce "Ear Hustle" to a much larger audience.

Within a few months, it was at the top of the iTunes podcast charts, and to date episodes have been downloaded more than 6 million times.

(static buzzes) (gentle guitar music) - Hi, my name is Kaysha.

I'm a student and apprentice with Drama Club.

Today is a very special day for us.

We have the opportunity to sit with the hosts of the acclaimed podcast, "Ear Hustle," Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods, to dive deep into how storytelling and art are powerful tools for change.

Today my fellow apprentice Mel and I are thrilled to interview Nigel and Earlonne.

Our organization share a common goal, using the arts to address and prevent violence.

Thanks to Dr. Joe and Dr. Heather from the Michigan State School of Social Work, who saw the synergy in our missions and connected us, we get to explore how storytelling and improv can change lives.

Drama Club uses improv to support incarcerated and court-involved youth in New York City, helping them find their voice and build resilience.

By collaborating with "Ear Hustle," we aim to amplify these stories and highlight the transformative power of the arts.

(inspirational music) I'm so excited to see you all here.

Let's get started.

- Yes, yes.

- Great to be here.

- Nice to have you guys with us today.

- So how did you Earlonne meet?

- Well, one day she was floating across the yard.

(group laughs) I shot my shot.

No, no.

(group laughs) No, we met 'cause like I said, she was a volunteer and I was serving a life sentence, and she was a professor of photography.

And I was in the media center and she came over wanting to do a film.

Was it a film?

- Yeah, we were gonna start film.

- Document her class.

But it was just too much work, so audio was better.

- Yep, and we thought audio would be easier (laughs).

(group laughs) Earlonne I didn't know how to make a podcast at all, and so we had to learn together.

And because we had to learn together, we supported each other really well and we got to know each other in a really robust way together.

- That built our bond.

- Yeah, so that was wonderful.

- I would like to ask, what is your experience coming from a space where you guys are communicating with older, older, incarcerated people and then stepping down with younger ones.

What's the difference in that?

- It's almost the same, almost.

What I've learned in the juvenile space is that a lot of people are first glances acting out a lifestyle, you know?

And adults- - They're enticed by the image.

They're enticed by the image that is put out there to make it seem like that's the world.

- That's what it is, and they wanna fit in, you know, and nobody wanna be taken advantage of or punked or whatever you wanna call it.

So I think individuals just do what they do to survive.

And I think it's like that in the adult system too.

The adult system is just a little more grittier, a little more realer where consequences for your actions could lead to some consequences that are deadly.

- Yeah, more dire.

- I don't think it's like that in the juvenile facilities.

- Hmm, I find it very different that, when I'm interviewing adults, I feel like I can push them pretty hard and go to all kinds of difficult places.

I don't know how that's gonna affect a younger person.

So I feel very cautious about how hard I can push them.

It's a very different kind of energy.

I find that there's a lot more posturing in the younger than there are with the adults.

So I feel like I'm still learning how to do it.

I feel like I've got a lot to learn.

And so going in with the people who work at Drama Club, I'm looking at them a lot to see how they do it.

And I'm amazed by their seemingly inexhaustible patience and perception.

- I don't know which one of y'all gave us this game when we first went to the door and we was asking y'all a question about the youth and it was more like, one of y'all said, "Y'all may come from the same environment and all that, but you don't know their situation."

You know what I'm saying?

And that was deep, you know, 'cause we, you know, yeah, I know the hood.

I know all that.

But again, I don't know individuals' struggles.

- We all had different lives.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- [Cesar] This is the first time we seen you- - Say (indistinct).

(upbeat music) - [Cesar] Let's give it up, let's give it up!

(indistinct) let's go!

All right, one, two, three, action!

- You didn't pay my cell phone bill.

(audience laughs) - Sorry, I forgot.

- It's off - [Cesar] And cut.

(audience applauds) That was a good scene!

That was good.

That was good!

- What do you both enjoy about "Ear Hustle"?

Like what's something that like excites y'all about it?

- Whew, so it's a lot of things.

One, I would say I had two life sentences in California and I was 21 years in before the governor commuted it and let me out like 10 days later.

So the big reason for that was 'cause of "Ear Hustle."

That's like my top maybe 10 reasons, you know what I'm saying?

(group laughs) - It gave you your life back.

- When I go in into a lot of different prisons, I see the impact that storytelling has on people.

I guess individuals are able to see themselves.

- What do you enjoy about "Ear Hustle"?

- I'm not lying when I say almost everything about it.

We get to meet, you know, people like you.

I never in a million years thought I would stand up and do improv.

It scared the hell outta me and now I kind of look forward to it, you know, like zip zap and all that.

- Really?

- Yeah.

(group laughs) Yeah, yeah.

So all of it's really joyful along with the parts that are hard.

I mean, the hard part is hearing stories that keep you up at night or depress you or make you worry about the world and if things are gonna change.

But you know, you deal with that.

- Well, thank you guys so much for sitting down with us.

We are very appreciative.

- Thank you.

We definitely appreciate you.

(audience applauds) (inspirational music) - We're so excited to present to you tonight a stage reading of "Catching Prospero."

This is a piece that's inspired by Shakespeare's "Tempest."

Youth participants in our confinement program at Belmont put together this piece.

They cannot be with us today, but we hope to liberate their voices.

(audience applauds) - Scene one, the courtroom.

- Order in the court!

- [Actors] Ooh!

- Do not send them to jail.

- I'm counsel on behalf of the court and I apologize for my lateness.

There's a problem with LA traffic.

(audience applauding) - Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.

We in Brooklyn.

(audience cheers) - In our final segment, (inspirational music) we'll meet Tiny and we'll learn about her inspiring journey from former Drama Club participant to teaching artist.

Tiny's story is an example of how Drama Club is more than teaching improv, but fostering connections, nurturing resilience, and offering light in the darkest of places.

Come along as we explore the story of transformation, just one example of the lasting impact that Drama Club has had on participants after incarceration.

(gentle music) - The kids that we work with tend to come from the same five zip codes in New York City.

They're neighborhoods that are under-resourced, overpoliced.

I had a new board member come to a class and she said to me afterwards, she was like, "You know, when I heard about Drama Club, I thought, 'Well, that's so cute.

That's such a nice thing to do for kids who are incarcerated, you know?'"

And then she was like, "What do they do all day?"

And I'm like, "You're looking at it," you know?

And it blew her mind.

And after seeing your class, she's like, "Oh my god, these kids need this.

This is like lifesaving," you know.

Because it's, we are human, we have to connect to each other, we have to express how we're feeling.

We have to feel important.

- I was actually incarcerated in 2015, so where I got introduced to the program Drama Club.

I was an adolescent, so we got offered these programs.

And I joined it for the snacks in the beginning, not gonna lie.

And then after I like started seeing, like they kept coming consistently and I was like, "Okay, this program is not gonna leave."

Like, you know, any other program comes for a little bit, then they don't come or they go to a different unit.

I kept participating, I kept getting certificates and I found like, a sense of belonging.

I wound up going upstate.

I came back out.

And then I found their number and I called Josie and I was like, "Hey, I don't know if you remember me, but I'm out."

And she was like, "Oh my God, hey, come and see me.

We're at the door."

And I was like, "Okay."

She gave me the address and everything.

I went for my first class, and then from there I felt like I already knew all the games.

I knew how to act.

Like, yeah, I knew everything already.

I felt good with all the people that I already seen in the inside.

I became an apprentice.

And then from there, like I moved up to being a teaching artist.

And then now I go into confinement.

So it's like I'm giving back for like the other kids that like are in the same predicament that I was.

I'm doing something with my life, you know, so I could show them that like I did a whole 360.

It's called the vuelta in Spanish.

(indistinct), you say bang, but you have to go like this, so you say, bang.

So now we can.

- The mission of Drama Club is to consistently care for youth who are incarcerated or court-involved by creating space for them to thrive using improv as their guide.

- We know from a lot of the work we've done and our colleagues have done that a sense of belonging or connectedness is protective.

And so when we started to look at opportunities, we thought about which platforms might work in that way.

Because if a kid or a young adult doesn't feel connected, they can often adopt a violent ideology or become part of a situation that's not healthy for them.

(inspirational music) - They are children.

They can be as young as 12 years old.

We rarely see that young, but we do see 13, 14, 15 year olds.

I say to people, "These are children."

And they're like, "Uh-huh."

And when I bring people in, they're like, "Oh my God."

You see a young kid and you know they're gonna be there for a while.

You're like, "They're growing up in this room with these other kids.

They're raising each other."

- You walk into these spaces where it's almost kind of like part of the circumstances that their humanity doesn't matter.

And so when you walk in and you offer them an opportunity, whether it be an hour, whether it be a conversation, whether it be a class to kind of like express that humanity, that joy, the rage, whatever it is that they're feeling, you see the person.

All right, lemme get the glue.

I'll put it a little bit right there.

Hold the glue.

Gimme a second.

Lemme, this hat keeps.

- Oh.

- Um- - [Performer In Black] It did not come out that?

- Nah, you know what happened just now- - Let me hold that for you.

- Is, wait, hold up, my hand stuck to the hat 'cause of the glue.

- I look at so many of our young people and I think to myself, "Man, I wonder if they've had access to a Drama Club program or if they'd had access to the community that we have, if their life would've looked a little bit more like mine."

Crossroad (indistinct), they are incredibly talented.

- A lot of times I found working with people in incarceration, it just took one bad afternoon, one bad moment, one adult to fail you at the wrong moment, or one dumb child mistake turns into catastrophic consequences.

So for me, the passion comes from, I could have very easily been one of them.

My friends, my brother, my nephew, my nieces, like one childish mistake that just goes too far.

I just still see the humanity in them despite what they're going through.

I don't feel like that can be ignored if we want our society to be better.

- Community is so, so important with rates of recidivism.

If people who get out have a place where they feel like they belong and a place where they feel like they can exercise skills and talent, the likelihood of them returning is significantly lower.

(upbeat piano music) - We're interested in coloring outside of the lines and really pushing our colleagues to think more broadly about how we prevent violence in our communities.

- We're hoping to multiply our programming across the sites that we are already in, but also we're hoping to expand across the state.

And then ultimately we're really hoping to expand even across the nation.

- We've seen many of our young people through engagement in the arts, develop self-regulation skills, self-esteem and resilience.

And when they build those skills, they tend to have a more calm day.

They improve their ability to get along with each other, to manage frustrations.

We've seen reductions in conflict for our young people who are with us in detention.

- Exercise we did today.

You have to have patience.

You have to wait.

Whether it's wait for that person to react or wait for that person to act out something specific, you just have to wait.

And you know, sometimes I'm quick to lose my patience, but now I can reel myself back in a whole lot quicker than on my own.

Thank you.

- I made it, like, you know?

Like out of everything that I've done in my life or in the past and stuff like that, like I changed my life around and now like my story's only gonna get better.

(gentle piano music) - As we conclude our program, (gentle piano music) we hope you have been inspired by the participants and their stories and how Drama Club's work highlights the potential of the arts to heal, empower, and transform lives.

Finally, these stories remind us that the power to create change lives within each of us and how arts programs can help form pathways to opportunity for individuals to reach their full potential.

Thank you for joining us on this journey as we continue to spark hope and change lives through the power of the arts.

Until next time, take care and keep the spark alive.

- [Announcer] Support for this program provided by Michigan State University School of Social Work and grant funding to Michigan State University from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Homeland Security and by financial contributions from viewers like you.

Thank you.

(gentle music) (gentle piano music)