USI's Berger Lecture to discuss Shakespeare's redemptive power
The University of Southern Indiana's College of Liberal Arts and the Department of Performing Arts present Matt Wallace, producing artistic director of Louisville's Kentucky Shakespeare and artistic director of Shakespeare Behind Bars, as the 2016 Berger Lecturer. Wallace will present at 6 p.m. Thursday, December 1 in the USI Performance Center located next to University Center East on the USI campus. This event is free and open to the public.
His lecture, "Shakespeare Behind Bars" will explore the tremendous power that reading Shakespeare has had in kindling a vital human response in prisoners, that of empathy, and how that empathy leads prisoners to a profound recognition of their engagement in society. Evidence has shown that prisoners who have experienced the program have a much lower rate of recidivism than the general population upon their release back into society.
In his role as the artistic director of the outreach effort "Shakespeare Behind Bars," Wallace directs and produces Shakespeare plays using prisoners at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex near Louisville, Kentucky. In an extensive process, prisoners, with little or no experience with Shakespeare, study the text and begin to develop a relationship with the various characters in the plays.
"Wallace's work provides a compelling narrative that underscores the value of the arts at all levels of our society" said Eliot Wasserman, professor of theatre and chair of USI's Performing Arts Department.
Every year the College of Liberal Arts remembers and honors Sydney Berger, one of Evansville's most respected attorneys, with a guest lecturer on the theme of civil rights or civil liberties. Berger was an adjunct professor of constitutional law at the University of Southern Indiana for almost 20 years. He is remembered as an advocate for the little guy, the poor, the underprivileged, the neglected, or those deprived of their civil rights.
For more information, contact Eliot Wasserman, chair of Performing Arts, at 812-465-1614 or wasserma@usi.edu.