The politics of desire and possibility in urban playwriting: (re)reading and (re)writing the script

Abstract

In this article, the author analyses scripts written by incarcerated girls in playwriting and performance workshops conducted in regional youth detention centres and performed by formerly incarcerated girls in a programme called “Girl Time” in an urban American southeastern city. Through a close reading and analysis of characters, plots and settings, the author argues that this catalogue of plays collected over a 5-year period (2006–2011) embodies the ways in which incarcerated girls – primarily African American and ages 14–17 – used playwriting as a tool to navigate “betwixt and between” lives that are a result of being entangled in the juvenile justice system. The author ultimately argues that these “urban playwrights” articulate a desire that focuses on possible lives beyond detainment and incarceration.

Keywords:

• literacy
• girls
• school-to-prison pipeline
• urban playwriting
• desire

Notes

1. In my experiences of listening to formerly incarcerated girls, I have learned that they have encountered many situations in which they were unable to make choices or decisions for themselves; therefore I am compelled to acknowledge the role of indecision. For example, some girls in my study were “committed to the state” by a parent struggling to communicate with his/her child, thus beginning an unwanted relationship with the juvenile justice system. It is also critical to note that most incarcerated girls and women report being sexually abused, yet girls are fed “abstinence only” philosophies without the consideration that they were exploited without consent.

2. All names in this manuscript are pseudonyms.