Interview With Tue Huynh

In 1999, at the age of 18, Joey Pagaduan was sentenced to life in prison. Joey was found suitable by the California Board of Parole Hearings in 2020, but his suitability was unilaterally reversed by Governor Gavin Newsome. Two years later, Joey was found suitable again and, after 23 years, was released on June 30, 2022.

Joey is an accomplished actor having played Hamlet, Bottom in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Master Harold in “Master Harold and the Boys,” and many other roles at Shakespeare at Solano. He founded P@S – Performances @ Solano – to give theatre artists and musicians opportunities to write, workshop, and perform their original works. For P@S, he has written and directed several short plays. He was also the editor-in-chief and photographer for the Solano Vision newspaper. Joey is working as a Certified Addiction Counselor, currently enrolled in a coding bootcamp through CSU Eastbay, and a Designing Creative Futures internship with California Lawyers for the Arts and Marin Shakespeare Company.

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

This episode is an audio extract of a presentation that took place during the NYU Drama Therapy Research Symposium 2023, hosted by the NYU Program in Drama Therapy and Theatre and Health Lab.

View the full video presentation here.

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Justin Hong was incarcerated for 14 years where he was a part of California’s first in-person BA degree program in communication studies. It was in prison where he discovered his passion for art and acting and where he performed in several theater programs. Since his release he has earned a BA degree in organizational communication. He lives in Los Angeles where he is a  working actor and tattoo artist.

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

This special episode of drama therapy Collection is on the creative healing work of Spoon Jackson during incarceration. Jackson is a renowned poet and performer serving a life sentence in California. The program is in two parts. Part one is a documentary-presentation by Lynn Baker-Nauman on the healing aspects of Spoon's therapeutic performance in a production of "Waiting for Godot" and his other creative endeavors. This part was presented in 2021 at the annual conference of the European drama therapy association under the theme of "Who is Godot"?   Part II, is an interview with Spoon Jackson conducted over the phone in July 2022.

Learn More About Spoon Jackson:  https://www.spoonjackson.org/
Uncuffed: https://open.spotify.com/show/1p0cNCUK5h0Df8TcNfC0fh
Book Of Judith: https://nyupress.org/9781613321744/the-book-of-judith/
The Prison Music Project: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZDdVMfkWZK9dYozLiCl6f 

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

This special episode of drama therapy Collection is on the creative healing work of Spoon Jackson during incarceration. Jackson is a renowned poet and performer serving a life sentence in California. The program is in two parts.
Part one is a documentary-presentation by Lynn Baker-Nauman on the healing aspects of Spoon's therapeutic performance in a production of "Waiting for Godot" and his other creative endeavors. This part was presented in 2021 at the annual conference of the European drama therapy association under the theme of "Who is Godot"?   

Stay Tuned For Part 2!

Learn More About Spoon Jackson:  https://www.spoonjackson.org/
Uncuffed: https://open.spotify.com/show/1p0cNCUK5h0Df8TcNfC0fh
Book Of Judith: https://nyupress.org/9781613321744/the-book-of-judith/
The Prison Music Project: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ZDdVMfkWZK9dYozLiCl6f 

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

Duncan Martinez was part of the first cohort to participate in Cal State LA’s Prison BA initiative. On October 5th he participated in a historic graduation ceremony in
Lancaster along with 25 others, an event that was covered by major national and local news
media, including LA Times, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, and more. Duncan is highly respected and
admired for his achievements by faculty across the department who taught in Lancaster during the past five years.

View more of Duncan's work:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltX-ZqB7qF4
https://vimeo.com/showcase/7155653/video/420760560
Journal (volume 3) Cal State LA: www.prisonbajournal.org

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

Tue Huynh is a formerly incarcerated person who participated in theater work while in prison.
His interview focuses on his journey from a hesitant participant to someone who gained skills in public speaking and advocacy, defending himself in court and winning his immigration case to stay in the United States upon release. He shares the empathy he experienced for his father while playing the role of a father onstage. He shares, “If I can do acting class, I can do anything else.”(7:50-7:56)
The skills of visualizing a role and the discipline of rehearsal directly helped him take on his own case. You can read more about his work at www.tuehuynh.com

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Louie Brash, Ensemble Member, Project Re/Frame, is a passionate advocate, artist, and dog trainer. He lives his life with compassion and empathy and has an unflinching belief in the goodness of people. 

While he was at California State Prison-Lancaster, Louie began developing leadership capacity – promoting, creating, and facilitating numerous self-help classes and participating in numerous theatre workshops. Due to his positive programming, Louie was transferred to the Progressive Programming Facility (PPF) on “A” Yard where he became a member of Paws for Life K9 Rescue (PFLK9R) and participated in Convicts Reaching Out to People (CROP–a youth diversion program) and TheatreWorkers Project’s Life Stories from the Inside/Out, collaborating with his peers to create and perform in two theatre pieces.Since his release, Louie’s commitment to his transformation has not wavered. He continues to give back to the community by doing work in Restorative Justice and volunteering with PFLK9R. He has plans to finish school to earn a BA degree and looks forward to working with Project Re/Frame.

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

Monica Phinney is a Registered Drama Therapist who worked with filmmaker Robert Greene, on his latest documentary, Procession (now available on Netflix).

Monica specializes in using theatre and roleplay alongside other expressive arts to achieve therapeutic and educational goals. Her past roles include engaging the arts in hospitals, nonprofit organizations, theatres, schools, and most recently on a feature film set.

 https://www.heartwork.studio/about-us
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14300912/

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel

Trung Tong is a formerly-incarcerated person who is currently working as a substance-use counselor with Options Recovery Services. He is an undergraduate student at San Francisco State University majoring in Psychology. During his incarceration, he was a member of Marin Shakespeare Company’s Shakespeare for Social Justice program at Solano State Prison and San Quentin State Prison. Upon parole, he performed with Marin Shakespeare Company’s Returned Citizen Theatre Troupe. In his interview, Trung shares his healing experience of having a platform to “express himself” and the process of unlocking the pain he held in his body while in a toxic environment. You can read more about his work at http://linkedin.com/in/trungtong-sudcc.

Drama Therapy Collection YouTube Channel