Voices Inside

TAKING THE ARTS TO NORTHPOINT

Each summer Pioneer Playhouse brings professional actors into the prison yard to stage a classic play for the general inmate population at Northpoint. Past productions include Moliere’s Tartuffe, Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and Mark Twain’s Is he Dead.

“Tartuffe took me away from being here for two hours,

I loved it.”

–Comment from inmate in the talk back.

CLASSES

Playwriting workshops are held year-round for inmates drawn to self-expression through the creative writing.  The emphasis of these one-on-one workshops is to focus on the process of turning each inmate’s personal journey into a scripted, communicated narrative.

At the end of each summer, the playwriting class work concludes with a performance presentation of rehearsed plays and scenes staged by participating inmates for the general prison population and an invited guest public. Participants in this program, many of who never graduated high school, experience the exhilaration and self-esteem building of “putting on a show.”  Emphasis is placed on exploring the creative process, not necessarily the final result.

Voices Inside incarcerated writers have won the Pen Award for Best Inmate Drama in America, and have had their work performed on New York stages and at Actor’s Theatre of Louisville.

VOICES INSIDE is an outreach program of Pioneer Playhouse a summer repertory theater now in its 76th season that strives to be a leading regional arts complex and school of drama and theater, dedicated to fostering creativity and self-expression in actor, student and audience alike, in order to expand the human spirit.

In the summer of 2010, Curt L. Tofteland, Shakespeare Behind Bars Producing Director, partnered with producer/playwright Robby Henson, Robby’s sister Holly Henson, (Artistic Director, Pioneer Playhouse), and playwright Elizabeth Orndorff to begin a new 10-minute playwriting program funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) at the Northpoint Training Center in Burgin, Kentucky. Now in it’s 15th year, Voices Inside continues to thrive.

“This program represents what the whole penitentiary system should emulate: individuals who interact with inmates as adults and sincerely seek to encourage inmates to find within themselves that which will not only produce beautiful creativity but positive benefits for all of society – inside and out.” –Steven Bond (member of Voices Inside for many years, now free and enjoying a thriving and artistic life)

“Most people I know get out and come back to prison. My friends from Voices Inside Don’t. It’s not like most programs that talk about stuff. We write about it, act it out, and process it, then rewrite it. It changes people. It’s the whole wax on wax off process.” 
Andrew Philips (prolific member of Voices Inside since 2010)

“I have been involved with Voices Inside for about 9 years now. Every meeting is the highlight of my day. It is way more than just a writing program. It is talk therapy. It is a creative outlet for my joys and sadness, fears and dreams.”
Jeanne Anne-Marie Bossier (member of Voices Inside since 2016)

“Voices Inside is a program I’ve participated in since the beginning in 2006. This program helped me with literacy, confidence, and has bolstered my sense of humanity. Voices Inside teaches fundamental tools many incarcerated people need to overcome the trauma in their lives. Thank you.”
Derek R. Trumbo, Sr. (member of Voices Inside since 2010, being released April 2025)

Voices Inside
c/o Pioneer Playhouse
840 Stanford Road
Danville, KY 40422
(859) 236-2747