Sweeping Statements by Judith Sloan
From: Judith Sloan
Series: Inside the Cultural Divide
Length: 06:48
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- Sweeping Statements by Judith Sloan
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- Judith Sloan
Sweeping Statements is one piece from Judith Sloan's full length play about her years of teaching in alternative schools, jails, and reporting on refugees and immigrants. From the Missouri Review: Our first installment of the Audio Competition winners features the first place recipient of the Narrative Essay category, Judith Sloan. The essay, "Sweeping Statements," is a first-person author-read accounting of teaching theatre, writing, and juggling in jails and alternative sentencing institutions with incarcerated teenagers. Category judge Jay Allison, of transom.org, says the essay "truly left the page and warranted its existence in sound." Sloan is an actress, oral historian and audio artist. Her audio pieces have been produced for National Public Radio and New York Public Radio. She is also co-founder of the non-profit arts organization EarSay, http://www.earsay.org/. The audio piece was written, produced, voice edited and performed by Judith Sloan. Music by Taylor Rivelli. Trumpets by Dave Guy. Music arrangement Tomek Gross/Judith Sloan.
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Piece Description
Sweeping Statements is one piece from Judith Sloan's full length play about her years of teaching in alternative schools, jails, and reporting on refugees and immigrants. From the Missouri Review: Our first installment of the Audio Competition winners features the first place recipient of the Narrative Essay category, Judith Sloan. The essay, "Sweeping Statements," is a first-person author-read accounting of teaching theatre, writing, and juggling in jails and alternative sentencing institutions with incarcerated teenagers. Category judge Jay Allison, of transom.org, says the essay "truly left the page and warranted its existence in sound." Sloan is an actress, oral historian and audio artist. Her audio pieces have been produced for National Public Radio and New York Public Radio. She is also co-founder of the non-profit arts organization EarSay, http://www.earsay.org/. The audio piece was written, produced, voice edited and performed by Judith Sloan. Music by Taylor Rivelli. Trumpets by Dave Guy. Music arrangement Tomek Gross/Judith Sloan.
Broadcast History
Streaming on Third Coast International Audio Festival website, June 2008.
Timing and Cues
The piece is Six Minutes 48 seconds of voice and music.
Judith Sloan is an actress, audio artist, oral historian whose work celebrates voices often ignored by mass media. This piece is based on her work in prisons and is part of a live theatre performance called Yo Miss! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1. A project of EarSay. www.earsay.org.
Intro and Outro
INTRO:Winner of the 2008 Missouri Review National Audio Competition in Narrative Essay, Sweeping Statements is a first-person author-read accounting of Sloan's experience teaching theatre, writing, and juggling in jails and alternative sentencing institutions with incarcerated teenagers. Category judge Jay Allison, of transom.org, says the essay “truly left the page and warranted its existence in sound.”
OUTRO:Written and produced by Judith Sloan. Music by Taylor Rivelli. Part of Sloan's new work, Yo MISS! Teaching Inside the Cultural Divide, Vol. 1, a project of EarSay, www.earsay.org
Additional Credits
Written, produced, edited and performed by Judith Sloan. Music by Taylor Rivelli. Trumpets Dave Guy.
Related Website
Fi Benson
Posted on October 27, 2008 at 01:41 AM | Permalink
Review of Sweeping Statements (FCC safe)
An authentic yet uplifting account of what it feels like to be a tutor in a youth correctional situation. The piece resonated with my own experience of being a drama tutor to female juveniles in a Women's closed security prison in the south-west of England. I loved that the account included the sensations of being close to a group of angry and apparently hostile or dismissive youths, putting yourself in a metaphorical firing line, but at the same time wanting to not only see but reach beyond the face-values ... and how it feels when you get there!
I loved too how the piece showed how the personal development that takes place in a situation like this is significantly two-way. You aren't unaffected.
Great also how the last line and the title of the piece express clearly that you leave your usual perspectives and teaching strategies at the door - well, that's the way I see the expressing, because it parallels my own experiences - having to improvise 'on the hoof', depending on the dynamics in the room, truly learner-centred approaches.
I enjoyed the rhythm of the piece and the integral humour and the method of revealing the narrator's thoughts in contrast to what she says to the youths she's with.
Suitable for inclusion in any programme about how youths are perceived by society, or about correctional organisations.