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@sophiabush : Last night I was lucky enough to see @thewoostergroup’s “The B-Side: Negro Folklore From Texas State Prisons.” @eric_berryman leads the cast, taking the audience through what the @nytimes called “a masterclass in listening.” • And indeed it is. This play draws you in, as the men sing songs recorded in the 1960s, and Berryman reads passages from “Wake Up Dead Man: Hard Labor and Southern Blues.” The audience is transported back to the prison systems of the south during the Civil Rights movement. Some of the music harkens back farther, to the era of slave songs. And all of it, in this modern moment where we are witnessing a rise in racially motivated hate crimes. In the rise of privatized prisons that put profit over people, and are incentivized to keep people in a broken system. And even this week, prisoners trapped in New York without heat or warm food, is a knife through the heart. Because no matter how far we’ve come, we haven’t come far enough. Because the men working on these 1960s next-stage versions of chain gangs were subjugated by a prison system that was born to continue the legacy of slavery, and that benefited from back breaking manual labor carried out by black bodies. We must confront where we come from, as a nation, if we will ever change. • I couldn’t help but cry as I listened to men sing about being forced to run to the fields where they worked, chased by wardens and their “n***er dogs.” That a dog trained to hunt & tear apart the flesh of prisoners was so common it had a nickname and a song should tell us something. I had the chills as I watched footage of these prisoners, chopping trees in eerie synchronized motions. And, thanks to the hearts & minds of the men recorded, and the way their singing and storytelling was performed by the actors on that stage, I also experienced welcome moments of humor & laughter & joy, too. This show runs the full gamut. It’s truly an important thing to witness, in its stillness and thoughtfulness and spirit. • I’m g