INSIDE LOOK: Death Project 2013 Investigation: Hart Island

Our Associate Artistic Director, Ian Daniel, recently interviewed an ex-inmate from Rikers Island prison about burying coffins of unknowns, infants, and adults on Hart Island in the Bronx. The interviewee chose to remain anonymous so we will call him Tim.

The potter’s field at Hart Island is the largest cemetery in the United States. Read more about it HERE

Aerial View of Hart Island

NYC's Department of Correction manages Hart Island and uses inmates from Rikers to dig the graves. The public is not allowed on Hart Island, however, family members who can prove their relatives have been buried there can set up visits. 

Wikipedia says,"The dead are buried in trenches. Babies are placed in coffins of various sizes, and are stacked five coffins high and usually twenty coffins across. Adults are placed in larger pine boxes placed according to size and are stacked three coffins high and two coffins across. The potter's field is also used to dispose of amputated body parts, which are placed in boxes labeled 'limbs.' No individual markers are set except for the first child to die of AIDS in New York City who was buried in isolation."

Inmates in 1991 burying coffins holding babies Photo: Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Here are some excerpts from Ian’s interview with Tim: 

Ian: When were you in prison?

Tim:  In my adolescence. I was on Rikers for burglary and a stolen car. They used to use adolescents on Hart Island and I believe now they don't do that anymore, they use the adults now. We'd ferry over from there, be there all day and we'd be digging huge ditches, this was a long time ago. The caskets were plain wooden boxes, you know no names, some kinda marking on it, it wasn't that high, not very deep at all but it was long. It was a lot of caskets that went in there.

Ian:  Did you see bodies?

Tim:  Every so often you'd see one of the boxes open and you can see the body in there. I remember once a body was so gross, decomposed, just a horrible sight, scary to look at, cause then you gotta go eat lunch over there which is a little weird to do that shit over there, you know? Some of those guys would joke when we'd stick them in the hole and they'd say, “That was your father I just buried,” “This is the guy we used to get high with," crazy shit like that, and when you could see into the casket they'd say, “Oh that looks like your brother that I knew up on 125th street.”

Ian:  Who's buried there?

Tim:  Most of the time these people are found on the street or they have no money to be buried. So it’s always something like that...a lot of homeless people, people that have no identity, they have no family, or if they do, they don't want anything to do with them. If your brother dies and you don't have any money then he'd end up there.  A lot of stillborns, miscarriages, forgotten souls, that's why it's sad, it just a big lonely graveyard.

Ian:  How did seeing all of this affect you?

Tim:  When I saw all those caskets…it's funny cause my brother died but I never knew him, he died just after being born of pneumonia  and I used to always think about that especially when a baby was being buried. I was thinking about my baby brother and about my mother and father who died and that was just a little weird for me back then.  My parents said they only wanted five kids and he was the fifth but he died then a year or so later they had me so if he had lived they probably wouldn't had me. 

Infant coffins on Hart Island Photo: Stan Grossfeld  

To learn more about Hart Island we recommended that you check out The Hart Island Project, a nonprofit organization assisting families to relocate those who disappeared in the greater New York area HERE

The Department of Correction recently created a database of Hart Island burial records to help you determine whether someone has been interred on Hart Island, using basic information, such as name, date or location. Check that out HERE

Thanks for sharing, Ian. Check back here every Thursday for an inside look into our investigation in death, dying, and the afterlife for our upcoming performance. 

Crime, Part IV: The Forensic Psychologist

Extraordinary crime is the specialty of this interviewee, who has seen it all in 35 years as a practicing forensic psychologist. He is also a professor of criminal psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Tony-nominee Maria Dizzia performs this interview for our podcast this week, discussing topics such as sexual murders, crime scene behaviors, and the implications of this work in the court room. This interview was conducted for Crime, USA, a new play by our Associate Artist Alix Lambert, who also interviewed FBI agents, gang members, pawn shop owners, and more.

This episode contains material that is not appropriate for children of 18 years or younger.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

R&D Writing Group: Mid-Year Update

This post is by our R&D Coordinator, Annah Feinberg. For more information about the group, the writers, and the projects, please click here!

When selecting members for our R&D writers group, we primarily look for writers who think outside themselves. I have always understood investigative theater as a way to selflessly instigate the act of creating from the outside in. There are certain artists and writers who hone the craft of looking inside for inspiration, and others who hone the craft of looking out. I prefer the latter. I care deeply about context, and about how human behavior shapes our world. I am not usually drawn to plays that weigh primarily towards the articulation of feelings or action derived from angst. This artistic value of mine, which matches the priorities and goals of the Civilians, is where our process of creating the R&D writing community begins.

The five dynamic writers in the R&D group are selfless in their rigorous curiosity and on a constant hunt for fascination. They do not necessarily employ the interview-based development methods that the Civilians, but they all dive head first into the real world to craft their work. Research is the jumping-off point, the inspiration, and the primary reason for their artistic exploration.

Jackie Sibblies Drury and Jason are both using historical documents to crack open a particular moment in history. Jason is using the music of Shostakovich to structure a theatrical exploration of the relationship with that composer and Stalin during World War II, which opens up larger questions of the nature of private and public lives. Jackie is using the 19th century autobiography of Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole to examine the changing power dynamics within the healthcare system. Alix Lambert is continuing her extensive research on crime in America, using years worth of interviews from all over the country. The voices of the individuals she has conversed with throughout her travels, and their idiosyncratic perspectives of the world, are building towards a fascinating moralistic probe into the social norms many of us take for granted. Mia Rovegno is crafting a tornado-like tapestry of how we value home in America, through text pulled from Found Magazine and many other sources. Seen through chaotic but crystallized snapshots of diverse stories, Mia’s work is a reminder of the connections between our economic and personal realities. Heidi Schreck is delving into the social implications of group awareness training, using anecdotal evidence from people that have been through programs that utilize it. Through this, she is crafting painfully hilarious characters in order to understand this therapy’s place in the world.

I am incredibly excited about the shape that all five of the R&D projects are taking this year. The investigative brains of Jackie, Jason, Alix, Mia, and Heidi are pushing full speed ahead and expanding our definition of investigative theater. They continue to stretch outside themselves to generously share the stories of others. Keep an eye out for information about the R&D reading series in May; I can not wait to see where these writers’ investigations take them.

Crime, Podcast Episode III

A lawyer from the Department of Justice who specializes in organized crime cases discusses how he got into his field and some of the criminal schemes he has come up against in the courtroom. He also talks about the reasons that people cooperate with the American legal system and the relationship between cooperation and culture. This interview is performed by Brandon Miller, and was recorded at Joe's Pub. Associate Artist Alix Lambert conducting this interview for her play Crime: USA, which is crafted from interviews with gang members, pawn shop owners, FBI agents, and more.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

Crime, Part II: The FBI

Ever wonder what it's like to be in the FBI? This week features performances of interviews with two retired FBI agents conducted by our Associate Artist, Alix Lambert, for her play Crime: USA. The agents talk about how they entered their line of work, being a female agent, the mafia, what their jobs are like on a day-to-day basis, plus other stories and observations about serving on the force. The episode is performed by Maria Dizzia and Matthew Maher, and was recorded at Joe's Pub. The interviews were conducted as part of Alix Lambert's investigation into crime in America, which has included interviews with gang members, pawn shop owners, FBI agents, and more.



TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

This Week's Podcast: Crime, Part I

Our weekly podcast series continues with its the performance of an interview conducted for Crime, USA: a new play exploring issues related to crime in America. This project is helmed by our Associate Artist and R&D Group member Alix Lambert. In her investigation for this project, she has interviewed lawyers, FBI agents, criminals, gang members, pawn shop owners, and more. This episode features actor Frank Harts as Antonio, a former gang member, talking about about the first time he got in a fight, the first time he carried a gun, his experiences as a gang member, and his life outside the gang. The material was recorded in our cabaret at Joe's Pub last year.

This episode contains some language and content that may not be appropriate for children under the age of 18.

TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU PODCAST SERIES ON ITUNES, PLEASE CLICK HERE!

CRIME, USA, HARTFORD

Our cabaret LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA last year featured interviews about crime conducted in Florida and New York, plus some songs by the band Scrapomatic (photos of the evening are HERE , plus the audio from the performance will be included in our podcast series launching very soon!). The creative force behind that evening was our Associate Artist and R&D Group member Alix Lambert, who is continuing her fascinating work with the topic. She is currently in Hartford, CT conducting interviews, and she was also able to spend some time at Occupy Hartford. The following is direct from Alix, chronicling the first few days of her current investigation!

Post by Alix Lambert, Photos by Alix Lambert and Michael Premo

I am developing a play with the support of Real Art Ways and The Civilians about crime in Hartford, Connecticut, aptly titled: CRIME, USA, HARTFORD. Michael Premo and Jordan Mahome have agreed to come with me to Hartford for a week to conduct the initial interviews that the play will be based on. Meghan Maguire Dahn (Development Manager for Real Art Ways) has graciously offered to drive us from Brooklyn to Hartford, which saves us a Megabus ride.

Monday morning Dahn and I pick up Premo and Mahome, who both live within convenient proximity to my house, and we head toward Hartford. Dahn has been referring to Hartford as Treecapolyse after the horrendous storm the previous day which brought down many trees and left large parts of the city without power.



Here are Premo (L) and Mahome (R) sleeping in the car on the way.

We arrive to a city in chaos. Traffic lights are out, power is spotty (literally and metaphorically) and everything is generally upside down. We settle into our hotel and go by Real Art Ways to say hello to Will K. Wilkins (the director of Real Art Ways) and John O’Donnell (visual arts coordinator), who have been helping line up interviews and taking care of logistics for our stay. The play will be presented at Real Art Ways in March and I want to take a look at both the visual arts space and the theater space that I will be using. Mahome has contacted an old friend in Hartford who is without power but has agreed to talk with us. He is a school-teacher and we are interested in talking with his students as well, but school is closed for days due to the storm. In the evening we have an amazing and insightful conversation with Mahome’s friends that lasts over two hours.

On Tuesday we decide to drive over to the offices of the Hartford Courant (newspaper) and see if any journalists want to speak with us. The person at the front desk dismisses us by giving us a phone number and sending us away. We have noticed that across the street from the Courant is where Occupy Hartford is set up: a sprinkling of tents and a sad snow-man. We cross the street to see what’s going on over there. 


We are greeted by Luke, who tells us he is recently out of a psych ward, and after living in the woods for a month in Ithaca NY, ended up in Hartford in a shelter, but the bedbugs were too much for him so now he’s living at Occupy Hartford. He shows us his tent. Premo speaks to an older gentlemen who talks about his friendships with Elvis and Robert Kennedy, while Mahome and I talk to a nurse who has some compelling stories about kids coming to her with lumps under their skin that turn out to be bullets that were never removed from their bodies. Luke tells us that his favorite thing to do is ride really fast on his bicycle while high on heroine, and I buy an Occupy Hartford pin for 2 dollars. Today we are heading to the Boxing gym, and tomorrow to the tattoo parlor, both promising to be brimming with Hartford crime stories.

Unity Within Diversity - R&D Group 2011-12!

Post by Annah Feinberg, R&D Group Coordinator 

What excites me most about this year’s crop of investigative theater projects being cultivated in the Civilians’ R&D writers group are the threads that link the wide range of projects together. During our first meeting of the year this past Monday, topics of conversation ranged between Stalin’s love of tractor musicals, Radical Faeries in Tennessee, historic accuracy, the Landmark Forum, suicide girls, nail polish, crime, Internet addiction, Occupy Wall Street, high school prom, and many more. While these all seem to come from vastly different corners of our contemporary consciousness, they are all strung together by projects that are questioning social perception of sanity and what has changed or is changing in our world that has lead or is leading to these changes in sociological awareness.

The R&D group is an incubator for the bouncing of ideas among investigative theater artist; it is a collective creative exploration of investigation. The artists range from first time playwrights who are well versed in Civilians methodology to seasoned playwrights in search of a new way of working and connecting to the world around them. By creating a conversation around these new projects, we hope to spark conversation within the projects; ideas of the artists in the group will inform and fertilize the projects of the other artists in the group.

I’m thrilled to find the unity within the diversity of projects being created this year, both artistically and tactically. Perhaps one writer will discover a new avenue for research and investigation that will open up a creative door for another. Perhaps one writer’s discoveries about the Landmark Forum will influence another’s project about the American Rehabilitation System, which will influence another’s project about Internet addition, and so on. The potential artistic links in this year’s group seem infinite, and I cannot wait to watch them connect.

In Monday’s meeting, Civilians Artistic Director Steve Cosson said something that really stuck with me: He remarked that partaking in the investigative process, and unlocking an underexplored corner of society “makes the world bigger”. I hope that’s what we will do this year in the R&D group—make the world bigger, one meeting at a time. 

For more info about the artists (pictured above) or their projects, click HERE!

Tutkiva teatteri - Investigative Theater

Tutkiva teatteri means "Investigative Theater" in Finnish - a fact we learned when Alix Lambert, one of our R&D Group playwrights and Associate Artists, was interviewed by Janne Junttila, a Finnish journalist, who is writing a book about contemporary documentary theater. The video of the interview, below, shows her talking about her project Crime, USA, for which she's been traveling around the country conducting interviews with criminals, cops, crime writers, pawnshop owners, the FBI, the DOJ, experts on serial killers, former gang members, and more. The journalist also got some footage from inside an R&D Group meeting, showing a short clip of Mia Chung's project and the discussion. Check it out!

Tutkiva teatteri from Janne Junttila on Vimeo.

For more information about the artists and projects in last year's R&D Group, click HERE.

PLUS, Janne Junttila has collected short excerpts of the interviews he has made here www.dokumenttiteatteri.fi. Interviewees include Judith Malina (a student of Erwin Piscator), Anna Deavere Smith, Nicolas Kent and Richard Norton-Taylor of London's Tricycle Theatre, German group Rimini Protokoll, British director Peter Cheeseman's widow, one Russian, Icelandic and Finnish theatre group. We're thrilled to be included in this awesome project!

Meet the R&D: Writer Alix Lambert and her project CRIME, USA

Before becoming a playwright , essayist, and journalist, Joe Loya robbed banks for a living. His memoir, The Man Who Outgrew His Prison Cell, was published in 2004. Joe has been a friend of mine for many years and I have interviewed him at length. He will be one of the characters represented in my play CRIME, USA. I spent a day with Joe going to five of the banks that he robbed and photographing him coming out of those locations. As you can see, two of the banks no longer exist (one is a tamale place, the other is a computer store) ... but I took the pictures anyway. Here are the resulting pictures.

Post and Photos by Alix Lambert

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA - Best Audience Crimes

At our cabaret at Joe's Pub on Thursday, Let Me Ascertain You: Crime, USA, we asked our audience,

WHAT IS THE MOST CRIMINAL THING YOU'VE EVER DONE?

Here are the most criminal responses:

"I'm a queer lady and I stole a keychain from a gay store in Northampton, MA - the lesbianist town of all. Not so criminal, but I was raised Catholic and oh, the GUILT!"

"Georgia, 1995. Certain sexual acts were still illegal then. Not trying to brag or anything. It was no big deal."

"I was arrested two weeks before my Bar Mitzvah with $200 worth of baseball cards and silly string in my pockets."

"You decide: a) Moved loads of pot through my 1957 Champion trailer. b) Smuggled tapes of Baloch insurgency out of Pakistan."

AND THE WINNER IS...
"Drunk driving to Vegas in an overpacked car - got pulled over but escaped unscathed due to $50 bribe!"

Congratulations to our winner, and a big thank you to all of our criminal audience members, and to the performers, Scrapomatic, and Alix Lambert! Thanks for a great evening!

When was the first time you held a gun? - LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA

"So, I’m in first grade, and I’m talking shit to three, four dudes in the class – 'I’ll take all of you on.' You know, I’ve got that Kung Fu movie I just watched on Saturday in my brain and anyone from the east coast knows about the Kung Fu movies back in the day, Saturdays at three o’clock, channel 5, so, you see that – you beating up everybody on the block. So, here I am – I’m talking mad shit now to these dudes, and after school, like I’m thinking they’re going to come at me like in the Kung Fu movies – one at a time. All three of them jumped on my little ass and I just felt it, just raining on me. So I came home, and I was crying, man, I wanted revenge, I wanted to get a knife from my mom’s kitchen and all this shit. And she said, 'What happened?' I said, 'Well, you know – these boys they jumped on me...' What ever. And she said 'Why?' And I said, 'Well, I told them I could fight ‘em.' And she said, 'Well, that’s what your ass gets.' So I learned what happens in the movies and what happens in reality is a whole different thing.

I can remember the first time I carried a gun, I walked with a gun. I was fourteen. I was fourteen, I had held guns when I was like ten, eleven, twelve – but like when I had my own gun, I was fourteen. And that is a very paranoid – like you’re so paranoid having a gun in your hand. It’s one thing when you see like all the older dudes carrying around, when you have it – it’s like, ok – you think the whole world knows that you have this on you. You build up that attitude of like, 'Ok, I’ve got a fucking gun.'"

-Former gang member and interviewee

For more info about LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA (this Thursday at Joe's Pub!), click here!