Take Shakespeare's final play "The Tempest," with its violent seas, windswept island, crucial connection to nature, and underlying theme of forgiveness, and bring it into a prison, the ultimate venue of confinement. The result is an extraordinary story about the creative process and the power of art to heal and redeem - - in a place where the very act of participation in theatre is a human triumph and a means of personal liberation.
In Hank Rogerson's revelatory trip into and around this prison production, we embark on a year-long journey with the 'Shakespeare Behind Bars' theatre troupe. Led by Shakespeare volunteer director Curt Tofteland, whose innovative work with Luther Luckett inmates began in the mid-1990s, the prisoners cast themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate. Their individual stories, including information about their heinous crimes, are interwoven with the plot of "The Tempest" as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons.
HANK ROGERSON - DIRECTOR, WRITER
Hank is a director, writer and actor who works both in fiction and non-fiction film. He co-produced, directed and edited "HOMELAND," a documentary about four families on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The award-wining "HOMELAND" aired nationally on PBS in November 2000 and was seen at festivals around the world.
Hank also co-directed and produced "CIRCLE OF STORIES," a cutting edge multi-media project that brings to life the vibrant art of Native American storytelling on the worldwide web at www.pbs.org. The site was commissioned as a pilot site for the ITVS web-original series, "ELECTRIC SHADOWS." "CIRCLE OF STORIES" played at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003 and at South X Southwest. Hank also freelances as a writer, director and producer within the film industry, with credits ranging from NBC to the Discovery Health Channel.
As an actor, Hank has studied Shakespeare at 'A Noise Within' in Los Angeles, and played Lysander in "A Midsummer Night's Dream." Some of his independent film "The Orange Orange" (Gold Medal, WorldFest Houston 2001), AS WELL AS GUEST ROLES ON "E.R." and "Judging Amy." Hank also performs improv at Bang Studios in Los Angeles.
JILANN SPITZMILLER - PRODUCER
Jilann was a producer and director on other Philomath Films projects including "HOMELAND," "CIRCLE OF STORIES" and "Bless Me with a Good Life." She is also a cinematographer and has freelanced extensively within the documentary field, with her work appearing on NBC, PBS, A&E, Bravo and Discovery Health. Jilann directed segments for the NBC series "Life Moments," which premiered in September 2002. Her work for the Indigo Girls (co-producer/director/cinematographer/editor) is included in "Watershed," a biographical video released by Sony Music.
She directed and filmed two documentaries about fine artists working in France and Italy, "Thoroughbred Pursuit" and "An American Painter in Italy." She is an adjunct professor of film at the University of Redlands in California, and at Studio Arts Centers International in Florence, Italy. Jilann is also a painter and most recently has had solo shows in Los Angeles and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
