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Crime & Safety

San Quentin Inmates to Take Center Stage

Inmates will perform autobiographical theater pieces on the grounds of San Quentin State Prison on Friday.

The grounds of a Marin County prison make for an improbable venue to ponder the question of whether life imitates art, or vise versa.

San Quentin State Prison inmates later this week will give it a shot. They are scheduled to perform autobiographical theater pieces this Friday.

The inmates will perform works, titled "Stories from San Quentin," consisting of tales from the inmates' own lives. Their creation required self-reflection, prison officials said.

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The performances are directed by Marin Shakespeare Company's Suraya Keating.

The inmates chose to focus on the themes of mercy, prejudice, love and shifting perspectives, San Quentin spokesman Lt. Sam Robinson said.

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The idea for "Stories from San Quentin" stemmed from a June performance by inmates of William Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice."

Robinson said about half of the performers in "Stories from San Quentin" were in the previous production, and the other half watched the Shakespeare performance from the audience.

The autobiographical pieces will be performed Friday morning on prison grounds. The performance is not open to the public.

 

Bay City News contributed to this report.

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