Brian Beals was recently awarded a grant for the Mud Theatre Project as part of the Chicagoland Community Leadership Development Investment Program:
“In 2018, a group of men housed inside Dixon Correctional Center — more than 100 miles west of Chicago — realized the power storytelling and performance have over their lives, and the lives of others around them, by forming an arts-based program.
“After coordinating with one another and careful consideration from their warden, a space for men inside the prison to write, craft, discuss, read, and perform was born: the Dixon Theatre Workshop. After only a few years, multiple workshop members were being recognized by PEN America through its prison writing contest.
… their work is far from over. More people exit Illinois prisons every single day …
“Brian Beals, founder of the workshop, said people used the space to discuss systemic issues and desperate circumstances that some peers understood all too well but probably had little chance to explore beyond an inner dialogue. Most Dixon Theatre Workshop participants were from Chicago and had never been so far from their home for so long.
“‘Let’s talk about this violence in a way that they wouldn’t expect—not just the violent act, but the drivers and triggers of violence,’ he said, ‘and let’s do it in a play.’
“They covered a range of issues, from policing to redlining as a political tool to weaken demographic majorities, and the disinvestment in the neighborhoods they grew up in. …
“Beals was wrongly convicted of the murder of a six-year-old boy and served 35 long, unjust years before being released last year a few weeks before Christmas. He’s been adjusting to having freedoms since his release was ordered, fighting for fair exoneree pay, and working to grow his nonprofit Mud Theatre Project, the newest iteration of the Dixon workshop. …
“‘I was the last core facilitator to leave,’ he explained. ‘Once I left, they immediately moved to shut the program down.’
“But he said their work is far from over. More people exit Illinois prisons every single day; more than 7,000 people have left prison facilities already this year, according to the latest Department of Corrections Quarterly Report.
“‘We feel like we’ve learned so many lessons in the process of developing that program that would benefit these communities out here,’ he said.”
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