Patrick Walsh talks about “re-enfranchising” incarcerated audiences in Oregon by directing theater for performances in Oregon prisons. He is the Executive Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Theater Cooperative, who presented their latest production, Antigone, via video during the pandemic.

Biography

Patrick Walsh, back row, 2nd from right.

Patrick Walsh is a theatre director and producer who believes in the power of language, art, and community to change lives. His work has been seen across the United States of America. He currently serves as the Executive Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative Inc (www.nwctc.org), touring classic theatrical stories to culturally under-served audiences; bringing art to people who have the least access to it and knitting rooms together throughout the state of Oregon.

Locally, in Oregon, Patrick’s directing work has been seen at Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative, Defunkt Theatre, Portland Actors Ensemble, Post5 Theatre, Bag&Baggage Productions, the Fertile Ground Festival, and at Two Rivers Correctional Facility where Patrick volunteers through the Arts in Prison program. Work across the country includes credits at Chautauqua Theatre Company, The Guthrie Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Compass Rose Theatre, Theater Workshop of Nantucket, Steppenwolf Theatre, and the Hangar Theater. In addition, Patrick is a proud member of the 2009 Lincoln Center Directors Lab, while also being a recipient of an SDC Foundation Observership, a Chautauqua Theater Company Directing Fellowship, The Leslie O. Fulton Fellowship, and a Drama League Directing Fellowship. Patrick is also a proud founding member of Salmon Nation. https://salmonnation.net/

Intro

Welcome to More Devotedly, a podcast for people who see the arts as a force for positive, progressive change. I’m Douglas Detrick, this is Volume V, episode 2. 

The arts are a critical part of how we conceive of ourselves. As much as you’re a person who wears their hair a certain way, dresses a certain way, or practices a certain religion, you’re also a person who makes or appreciates certain kinds of art. You might be into the weirdest of weird experimental theater, or you might prefer Shakespeare, or maybe you really only pay attention to cat videos that your aunt shares on Facebook.

And that part of your identity is like a passport. If you think of yourself as someone who feels not only comfortable but also excited and affirmed by going to a theater in the United States, you’re probably also a person who feels affirmed by our culture in general. You’re likely to have a certain level of disposable income, a level of educational achievement, the ability to have free time in the evenings, and you’re likely to be white.

All of those indicators put you closer to the center of power in the United States, and the lack of them pushes you to the margins. The way I’ve described it so far is that those indicators of power bring you access to theater, and the arts in general. But, in the conversation I had on this episode, we ask, what if it also worked the other way around?

My guest this episode is Patrick Walsh, a theater director and organizer who lives in Portland, Oregon. Patrick is the Executive Artistic Director of Northwest Classical Theatre Collaborative, a company dedicated to bringing theater to culturally underserved audiences. They’ve pursued that mission by producing theater performances in prisons across Oregon. I recommend you go back to Volume I episode 4 to hear Anna Fritz and Paul Susi talk about their roles in a production of An Iliad that Patrick directed. In this episode Patrick talks about a new production of Antigone and how the pandemic has changed how they deliver their work in the short and long term and revealed an even deeper significance to the core of his company’s mission. 

Patrick has been acting on the theory that sharing theater with incarcerated a