Inzana, Victoria (2023). “Performing rehabilitation: Reentry, art, and identity.” Punishment & Society, Vol. 3.
Author Affiliations: Sam Houston State University (research completed while doctoral
candidate at University of Missouri-St. Louis)
Artforms: Drama, theater
Program: Prison Play Program
Program Description: PPP is “a community-based nonprofit theater program . . . that provides performance art involvement for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.”
Program (Study) Location: Mid-sized, Midwestern city
Study Published: 2025
Participant Type: Adult individuals recently released from prison
Sample Size: 15
Data Type: In-depth and semi-structured interviews
Evaluation Focus: Implications of theater role-taking on identity transformation for recently released individuals
Summary of Impact: Study found that “theater role-taking provides the gateway to personal identity role-taking at three levels: the self, the family, and the broader society. At each level individuals are simultaneously accessing the roles of the ‘agentic self,’ ‘the responsible family member’ and ‘the productive citizen.’” This, in turn, has implications on presentation of self when reentering society.
KEYWORDS: adult, drama, identity, role-taking, social roles, theater
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