“A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison” Documentary Screening + Q&A Panel

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Prison” is a beautiful story of love, caring and human connection. Themes of gender identity and the challenges faced by BIPOC prisoners are deftly explored, and the power of the arts to challenge and heal, even under the most difficult circumstances, is affirmed and celebrated. Q & A discussion after with the theatre director and actors from the film who have since been released.

6–8pm • Friday, May 30th • Free • RSVP requested: frontdesk@fhpdx.org or call (503) 228-4391

Film Description:

Inside the locked walls of the Two Rivers Correctional Institution near Umatilla, Oregon, cell doors slide open, and a group of adults in custody begins work with visiting theater director Johnny Stallings. Over the next few months, as they cast, rehearse, and perform William Shakespeare’s comedic tale of love and reconciliation, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Iraqi-born Portland experimental filmmaker Bushra Azzouz is there—among the costume fittings, meals on plastic lunch trays, and deeply personal side conversations—applying her deft hand as a cultural interpreter and activist storyteller. Through her watchful eye, in contrast with common societal assumptions about the incarcerated, she finds personas softening, meaningful relationships forming, and life stories being reimagined. As she did in her earlier films about ancestry, war, and pain, she takes us to the roots of our common humanity, celebrating the hopes and dreams we share.