Through the alliance of several organizations, the inspiring new program Staging Old Masters has launched at the Pulitzer. A group of former inmates, and graduates from Employment Connection, were chosen to attend a six-week study of theater in the context of Ideal (Dis-) Placements, led by Agnes Wilcox, the artistic director of Prison Performing Arts. The program concludes this April, when the participants will perform short theater pieces at the Pulitzer, based on what they’ve learned about the exhibition, acting, and teamwork. Stay tuned for more information as the program progresses.

This is the second week of the workshop, and from my laptop Monday afternoon, I could see the group clustered in the courtyard appear to be enjoying themselves. It was cold enough to see their breath, as they laughed and took turns moving around whimsically, like skipping with arms out a la airplane. My curiosity piqued, and I went outside.

The group was standing in a circle. One person would be in the middle performing an impromptu action, such as jumping up and down and yelling primordially. Agnes would say things like, “Don’t think about it. Just let your body do what it feels.” Using his arm as a trunk, one man impersonated an elephant. A man with a cane exaggerated a limp and rhythmically called out in pain. A young woman scratched the air in front of her and repeated a catlike ”meow.”  Their lack of inhibition and sense of humor was impressive. After a person found his movement, he would boogie his way to the side of the ring and face someone.

“Teach them,” Agnes would say, and the student on the edge would begin to mimic the mover, and the two would switch places. The one in the ring would continue the awkward dance to the middle, where he would flow into another dance of his own body’s making.

Inside, the students gathered in the Main Gallery for another non-verbal communication/movement exercise. In groups of three, each person took turns guiding the movements of the other two. One person would glide his hands over the others’ faces, and the other two would follow his gesture with their gaze, sometimes having to bend as far as the floor to keep from breaking the connection between their faces and the moving palms.

Tuesday morning, the crew began inside in the Main Gallery. Agnes asked them to call out feelings that they saw in the Old Masters paintings. Lust, faith, fear, deception, and death were among those mentioned. Then the students paired up; one was a sculptor, and one was clay. The sculptor moved the limbs and face of the clay to create an expression. When time was up, the sculptors walked around the gallery of human sculptures to observe their peers’ work. Then the sculptor and clay switched places.

Can you guess what is expressed in the following sculptures?