“Acting Out: How A Prison Theatre Workshop Broke Free”

When Richard Hoehler first walked through the doors of a medium security prison in upstate New York, he assumed it would be a one-time thing. As a busy freelance writer, actor and teacher he had nonetheless agreed to drive upstate to teach an acting class for inmates pro bono. This led Hoehler to an incredibly popular series of acting and writing workshops and mounting seven full productions with prison inmates–men whom society has written off and locked away as irredeemable. Fifteen years later his book “Acting Out: How A Prison Theatre Workshop Broke Free” accounts journey working with the men, through theater work to express themselves and connect with dramatic works where anger, compassion, forgiveness and tears pour forth in the safety of the workshop. Richard Hoehler’s book “Acting Out: How A Prison Theatre Workshop Broke Free” is published by Applause Books