The Otter Creek Players, a creative arts group at the Otter Creek Correctional Facility in Wheelwright, KY, produced an original play this summer called Finally Free, which explored the themes of confinement and freedom.
Finally Free was produced through the Thousand Kites Project at Appalshop. We were fortunate enough to be able to create an audio recording of the production at Otter Creek. Listen to the opening segment here, in which every woman in the group is heard:
Check out the Thousand Kites website to learn more about the project at Otter Creek, and to download a copy of the script.
One woman in the group wrote this poem in connection with the play:
This Fabulous View
I have this fabulous view from my narrow, bullet-proof plexi-glass rectangle.
I only see the beauty of the trees; the wonder of all living things I am encircled by, and the awe that it inspires within me.
I choose not to see the barbed and razor-wire, rough and sharply surrounding the “compound.”
You see, even though they have taken custody of this body, my mind is free to roam and wander to wherever I choose; beyond any physical limitations I may have.
I refuse to let them have the last word, the last laugh, the last of my sanity…
In my world, I can decide what I will allow to be or not to be. I’m the boss and you’re not, so don’t think you’re the boss of me…I control what is and what will be.
In my world, there is no such thing as captivity.
