Caged - by Cooperative Theater Prison Jersey New (Paperback)

About the Book

An evocative, affecting play on the horrors of mass incarceration written collaboratively by prisoners who have experienced it first-hand.

Book Synopsis

An evocative, affecting play on the horrors of mass incarceration written collaboratively by prisoners who have experienced it first-hand.

Review Quotes

"While the play's characters ring with authenticity, Caged never neglects its serious political messaging. The play illustrates Black lives in dialogue with a racist system, in which state power reinforces cycles of violence while moments of extraordinary integrity and bravery break through the cracks. Fifteen minutes before the play begins, a dimly lit stage reveals a barred cell. Inside, Shaky Brown, 'a gifted blues musician serving a life sentence, ' plays the blues. Throughout the play, his cell haunts the stage. Yet, his music--at once marginal and persistent, beautiful and full of grief--remains as well."
--Temperature Check, PEN America

About the Author

The New Jersey Prison Theater Cooperative is a committee that includes not only the 28 formerly incarcerated participants but also six theater professionals, who worked on the script's development.

Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist, Truthdig columnist and host of the Emmy Award--winning RT America show On Contact. He is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists and Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. His most recent book is America: the Farewell Tour, published in 2018. He teaches in college credit courses in prisons in New Jersey.