'By Our Hands' from The Georgia Incarceration Performance Project

UGA Theatre presents By Our Hands from The Georgia Incarceration Performance Project, directed by Amma Y. Ghartey-Tagoe Kootin, Emily Sahakian, Julie B. Johnson and Keith Bolden, a first-of-its-kind, cross-institutional collaboration between faculty, students and alumni at the University of Georgia and Spelman College of Atlanta and Common Good Atlanta, an organization that teaches college-level courses in prisons across Georgia:

Developed through several courses in university-level curricula and in the production seasons of three departments, students and faculty from Spelman, UGA and incarcerated students of Common Good Atlanta generated original writing, composed songs, choreographed scenes and engaged in critical reflection on the history of incarceration in the state of Georgia.

In a joint statement, the directors pose the questions, “How do we gather a community of Georgia residents to openly look at and discuss the state’s difficult past (and present)? How do we honestly negotiate our own relationship to incarceration, issues of race and the impact of forced labor on our everyday experiences as Georgians? One answer we suggest is that we turn to performance.”

Through the use of dance, original and historical music, projections and interpretive performance, the team behind By Our Hands has created a wholly unique theatrical experience aimed at interrogating this crucial aspect of Georgia history.

This innovative project spotlighting Georgia’s history of incarcerated labor will be open free to the public for performances Nov. 8 and 16 at 8 p.m. and Nov. 10 and 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts Theatre at 255 Baldwin St.