December 13, 2022
7:00pm MDT
The People’s Building, Aurora
General Admission Tickets - $30

The Lived Experience Concert is an Artistic Experience Supporting Reentry & Reducing Recidivism. In this second partnership with Remerg, The Playground will showcase the stories and creative expression of currently and formerly incarcerated people.

In addition to new works inspired by the lived experiences of this community, the concert will also feature three brand new pieces created by pairs of a composer and a returning citizen, each of whom has collaborated in the creation of a new musical work.

There will also be a silent auction of visual art by currently and formerly incarcerated people. Proceeds will benefit Remerg and its reentry programs and resources.

Funding for this program was provided by Denver Arts & Venues through the Denver Music Advancement Fund.

THE PROGRAM

In the summer of 2022, Colorado Public Radio hosted a storytelling event at Tattered Cover in which members of the Remerg community shared their stories. The three storytellers have been paired with Playground composers to create new works for this show.

This Person They See - The Person I Am by Dave Coleman & Ryan Fiegl (Premiere)

This work is an electroacoustic collage of David Coleman’s transformation over the course of 35 years, the majority of which was during his incarceration. We felt it was important to illustrate the magnitude of the impact that his choices made on so many but to also capture the growth through his changes within him and to instill hope in others.

David Coleman was honorably discharged from the United States Marine Corps and is currently a Program Manager for Support Services at the Second Chance Center in Aurora, Colorado. He was 22 years of age when he committed his crime; he was arrested November 1986 and released August 18, 2021, serving 34 years and 9 months. David received his Bachelor’s Degree in Social Psychology from Regis University, his Mentor and Recovery Coach Certificate from Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery, and is an instructor for the acclaimed leadership course “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. David is committed to assisting men and women as returning citizens back to the community after incarceration. He’s committed to Faith, Family, and Service which are values that give him a deep sense of purpose and meaning in life. Spending time with family and his granddaughter is the greatest joy. He believes our relationships are the most important things we have, and that lasting change in his life will be sustained by those key relationships and the support of others.

H.M. 212 by Claud Kasiah

This piece began its life in prison, and so is about the journey of one man through prison. Divided roughly into 4 sections, they tell the emotional stories of learning loss, experiencing conflict, finding hope, and finally personal revelation and remorse. The oscillator is specifically tuned to frequencies whose numbers correlate personally with the story’s protagonist, and the symbolic act of throwing an item away represents each year lost incarcerated. Multiple repetitions are used throughout the work to better convey the ideas of unchanged routines in prison.

Claud Kasiah is a 21st century composer who has worked primarily in film. He is comfortable in many styles of music, and studies the art of digital production. Formerly of Denver, he now enjoys his time in Southern New Mexico.

My Own Clothes by Ashley Furst & Silen Wellington (Premiere)

"For incarcerated individuals, being in prison can feel like they've been discarded from society, like an item no longer wanted. In this piece, we explore the intersection of clothing and justice-system involvement, and sometimes how a simple piece of outerwear can create a sense of identity." - Ashley Furst

Ashley Furst is the Senior Program Manager, Employment Opportunities at the Responsible Business Initiative for Justice (RBIJ), an international nonprofit that works with companies to champion fairness, equality, and effectiveness across systems of punishment and incarceration. In her role she spearheads RBIJ’s Second Chance Hiring efforts and works on the groundbreaking Unlock Potential (UP) program, an employment program looking to confront economic immobility and disrupt the prison pipeline. UP helps major employers use hiring to empower young people through meaningful, long-term career opportunities.

As an individual who is justice-impacted, Ashley believes that career opportunities are vital to ending mass incarceration and supporting successful reintegration into society. Ashley also works with Breakthrough, a nonprofit in Denver, CO, to empower individuals who have been incarcerated to embrace new possibilities and realize their full potential. She also serves on the Colorado Fair Chance Hiring Alliance.

Before joining RBIJ, Ashley Spent over 10 years in the Marketing and Communications world for a variety of nonprofit organizations, most recently Goodwill of Colorado where she managed all MarComm efforts within the state. Ashley holds an MS in Marketing from Johns Hopkins University and a BS in English from Towson University.

~ INTERMISSION ~

I. Echoes from Inside by Stacy Fahrion

Over the past 3+ years, Playground Emeritus Board Member Richard vonFoerster has written countless letters to incarcerated individuals, building penpal relationships with many people. He collected recordings of phone calls with incarcerated individuals for this piece, asking a series of open-ended questions, including “What do you want people to know about you?" and “What do you miss the most?” Through a collage of these interview recordings, this piece offers a glimpse into what it feels like to be incarcerated in America. 

In order of appearance:
Sean Ryan
Paul Neuman
Windee
Bubba Collins
Johnny
Justin
Rusty Weddle
Norton
Jeremy McCullough
Joey Carroll
Sasha
D Bowen
John Modie

II. Buried Alive by Stacy Fahrion

“Buried Alive” is a poem written by Rick Anderson and Nathan Ybanez, published in the book Unlocked Poetry: with Professor Wayne A. Gilbert and the Lyrical Vagabonds.

Rick Anderson is a poet incarcerated in Sterling Correctional Facility. He works in the prison library and typed the entire manuscript of Unlocked Poetry. Writing poetry helps Rick endure the hardships of prison and often returns him to his beloved nature. 

Nathan Ybanez spent more than two decades in Colorado’s harshest prisons, and is now free. In prison he learned the art of poetry, which helped him endure the violence and indignities of prison. He continues to write to unlock the magic of deep engagement with daily life. Nathan’s chapbook of poetry, Memory and Form, was recently published by Liquid Light Press.

One goal of this piece is to disturb public apathy around incarceration.

Buried Alive
Written by Rick Anderson & Nathan Ybanez

My contemplative moments
are like motes of dust
swirling in bright beams
burning through the shadows
Each a thing I mean to do:
a regret, an unfulfilled dream,
a tear, a kiss, a goodbye.
I live in these siren flashes
sucking at them like a leech
growing fat on the suffering.

Time is a terrible circle
closing in on itself,
cutting away at an empty heart.
I search in vain for the moment

I grew too large in my loss
when I turned to this flailing morbidity
from an illusive future
to a ransacked past.

There’s no light here - not really.
These nostalgic pyres
are as meaningless
as tears in the rain.
But things continue to grow
and I claw for my salvation.

Across my Rubicon,
alone in my grave,
beholding only echoes of all
the people I used to be,
I wonder what god
would deem it just
for an old man
to suffer the follies
of an arrogant youth.

مبارز by Roohallah Mobarez & Conrad Kehn (Premiere)

This work is a piece of spiritual healing that Roohallah experienced while engaged in therapy in prison. Years spent running from unresolved trauma, addiction and loss came to a sudden halt once he was rightfully sentenced to prison. While incarcerated, Roohallah experienced a transformative event that allowed him to overcome decades' worth of blocked grief.

Roohallah Mobarez is the youngest son of Afghani refugees, arriving in America at the age of three with his parents and 6 siblings. An entrepreneur, he started his first business with a $20 loan from his father at the age of 12. Since he's been out, Roohallah has welcomed individuals released from incarceration into his own home, overcome the challenges of re-entry, and now provides first-hand guidance through Remerg. Giving back and paying it forward is his passion. He enjoys the work that he does because he has experienced what becomes of our communities when there isn't authentic representation. His lived experience has provided him with a level of expertise that can not be taught or bought. His life revolves around accounting for injustices, honoring our intrinsic values, and working towards a viable future for all.