CAS CONNECT 2014

22 Nevertheless, the inmates’ performance in front of their fellow prisoners proved to be an emotional experience. Delaino says those in the audience commented after the show how thankful they were to see their fellow inmates share details and stories they may have kept quiet in day-to-day interactions. They laughed and, yes, they cried. “The most surprising part was to see the vulnerability in these men and that they were willing to show it in front of their peers,” Delaino says. The task for the seven OSU student actors was to capture that vulnerability, find the humor, and play the story back to the inmates inside the Lilley Correctional Center. The The slightly informal setting of the prison’s chapel lent itself to a more reciprocal experience than a typical show on a stage in a theater. During dress rehearsal, Jinks warned the students that parts of the show would inspire members of the audience to respond. She pushed her actors to embrace such interaction and to even encourage it. Dorsey related that in a few scenes they left out a word or adjective, forcing the actors to enlist the audience for help in filling in the blanks. At another point, Jinks directed actor D.J. Grigsby, who had the task of playing “Bear,” to go up to the inmate himself and say, “Hello, Mr. Handsome!” during the monologue. Jodi Jinks students had limited time to rehearse — and several were involved in OSU Theatre’s production of Man of La Mancha, which debuted a week later — but they delivered a performance that seemed to please both their instructor and the audience. Zack Graham, then a senior at OSU, says he was not scared or nervous about entering the prison but more apprehensive about “messing up” the show these men had written. “Watching them watch us was an emotional experience,” he says. “It surprised me how emotional I got. Once we got their reactions, it was kind of like, ‘Oh, I have emotions, too.’”