Felon: An American Washi Tale

Performed by poet, lawyer and MacArthur Fellow Reginald Dwayne Betts, Felon: An America Washi Tale is a powerful solo performance exploring the unexpected significance of paper in the American prison system. The play is about reimagining paper, from legal documents that initiate and end sentences to “kites” — letters from loved ones providing vital lifelines, or book pages slid under the cell door of an incarcerated teenager— paper serves as both a burden and a beacon of hope. Weaving together traditional theater, poetry, fine art and Japanese papermaking aesthetics, the piece is a meditation of Betts’ own experience with incarceration and his legal advocacy work to free others. This reflection on the challenges of living in the shadow of mass incarceration is a story of violence, love and fatherhood. The world of Felon is shaped by set design by Japanese paper artist Kyoko Ibe, crafted from “prison paper” that artist Ruth Lingen constructed from the clothes of men Betts first met in prison as a teenager, visually extending the play’s reach beyond the artist’s own story to illuminate how incarceration touches us all.