Inside This Summer’s Inner Voices Programming: An Interview with Inner Voices Facilitator Sade Cole

We closed the curtain on this summer’s session of Inner Voices with our last workshop in our local facility this month. This summer, we worked with 32 men currently incarcerated in a Maryland facility and we are grateful to them for their participation, vulnerability, and creativity throughout the sessions. 

Through the framework of Theatre of the Oppressed, Inner Voices gives participants an opportunity to create and perform an original piece to share their stories, explore social issues, and explore solutions. This programming not only provides participants with new skills to employ in their everyday lives, but the skills to advocate for themselves, their communities, and a more just, empathetic future. For this particular program, we also collaborated with Community Advocate Devin Smith’s company, Ship and Anchor, to combine his workforce development and wellness program, What’s Your Anchor?, with our curriculum.  

We checked in with ATVU Program Manager and Inner Voices facilitator Sade on this summer’s programming. Read her interview below.

Over the summer’s sessions, what did facilitators work with participants on? 

We worked with participants in the jail that will be released soon, so we structured our programming for them to envision life post incarceration and begin to plan what that would look like. Our primary focus was on well-being and we highlighted all types of wellness: social, emotional, physical, financial, and mental. 

Most importantly, we created a space for participants to express themselves, be vulnerable, and encourage and uplift each other. 

We also partnered with Ship and Anchor and they supported participants through workforce development and identity work. 

Since beginning this work with this group, how have you witnessed participants grow throughout the program? 

With every session, I noticed that everyone started to express themselves more and speak up. I saw people become more confident speaking up and in front of a group. One of the participants, Brandon, told us that Inner Voices helped push him out of his comfort zone in class and that allowed him to really consider his future goals. And he plans to open a restaurant once he is released. 

What did participants share with you about the experience of this workshop?

We recently had our certificate ceremony where we celebrated completion of the program and it was really special to hear directly from the group how this program pushed them in different ways. For some, it was discovering a new interest. One participant, Des, shared at our certificate ceremony that he was not typically into theater before Inner Voices. But writing his piece opened a new avenue of creative expression for him and he is excited to continue that. 

For others, they were inspired by the vulnerability of their peers, which encouraged them to do the same. Kari, for example, shared that he was hesitant to participate in some of the warm up activities in the sessions. But seeing his peers, who he also thought would not be interested in participating, actually participate made him want to do the same. And in doing so, he could feel himself opening up.

For one participant, it was simply the joy in committing and finishing the program. He shared with the group that this was the first program in jail he has completed. He came to every single session. 

And for many, it was the joy of coming to a space so different from the one outside the session room. A safe space where they could be vulnerable, feel seen, and have something to look forward to. And just by creating this space, our work disrupts our system of incarceration and returns a sense of autonomy to those inside.

What do you think this workshop offers that other forms of programming might not? 

This workshop offers participants a space to express themselves, examine who they are and who they want to be. There is space for them to share what they are thinking and feeling. They get to tell their stories and they also get to have fun. We create a safe space that allows these men to be silly and spark joy. This experience requires them to be creative and our hope is that they take that creativity into other spaces. Creativity is often such an overlooked skill but it is a superpower. 

You mentioned creativity as a superpower. Can you talk more about that and how you see theatre helping participants build other skills or mindsets they can use after release? 

A big thing Inner Voices helps do is encourage participants to be creative. We know creativity can translate to so many critical skills and mindset shifts, such as being adaptable and a strong problem solver. It can help people dream bigger and have a more vivid imagination as it relates to their own lives and futures. It can help people challenge the status quo or how things have always been and reimagine something new. 

Our workshops can also help participants tap into creative outlets to express themselves and process what they go through. And it encourages them to use their voices, boldly and confidently, and tell their stories. A confidence that we hope they will take into all areas of their lives.  

And lastly, what do you hope people on the outside understand about those who take part in your program? 

First, that they are amazing! Second,  I want people to understand that everyone is deserving of a second chance. And lastly but most importantly, that their stories are important and should be heard. And that we all need to listen. We want our community to understand the role we all play in supporting our community members impacted by incarceration and how creativity and theatre can help us reimagine a different future.