News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- The Women’s Prison Repertory Company, whose members are incarcerated at the Raleigh Correctional Center for Women, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday (March 18) at Pittsboro’s Fearrington Village.

In "From the Inside Out," eight members of the repertory company will present stories of their lives, from childhood to life in prison. The materials were developed during writing workshops conducted by the N.C. Women’s Prison Writing and Performance Project.

Daniel Wallace, author of "Big Fish" and a faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s department of English, and Keebe Fitch of McIntyre’s Fine Books will host the event, to be held at "the Barn."

"The voices of the women resonate powerfully with audiences," said Judith Reitman, executive director and founder of the project, which is under the auspices of the Jordan Institute for Families at UNC’s School of Social Work.

"From the Inside Out" was presented in October and November of 2004 in Raleigh and Carrboro. Friday will be the last performance of "From the Inside Out" for 2005. The project will develop a new show, "The Woman Next to You," for debut this fall.

The women’s first show, "Doing More Than Time," received a 2003 Special Achievements in the Humanities Award from the Independent Weekly.

The project is intended to be therapeutic for the women and help in their rehabilitation; the performances are intended to raise public awareness about issues surrounding women and violence. About 70 women have participated in the project since it began, Reitman said.

The project is funded solely through donations, which will be requested at the performance. For more information, contact Reitman at (919) 732-5601 or judithreitman@earthlink.net, or visit the project Web site at www.unc.edu/~cramer/prison.

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Note: More background on the project is available at www.unc.edu/news/archives/oct02/prison.htm.  Media representatives interested in interviewing inmates or covering rehearsals should contact Pam Walker or Keith Acree, the N.C. Department of Correction, at (919) 716-3700, and Reitman, at (919) 732-5601.

School of Social Work contact: Krystie Grubb, (919) 962-6540 or kgrubb@email.unc.edu

News Services contact: Deb Saine, (919) 962-8415 or deborah_saine@unc.edu