"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see."  ~Henry David Thoreau

Since 2004, Suraya has worked in the California State Correctional System as a theater teacher and director.  As a member of the Theater for Change program with the model Resolve to Stop the Violence program in the San Francisco County Jails, Suraya worked for four years with a team of dedicated artists and therapists using tools from improvisation, theater and drama therapy to help men incarcerated for violent crimes reflect on their conditioning and embrace healthier ways of being.  As a recipient of Theatre Bay Area's CA$H Grant Awards for individual artists, Suraya also directed "Stories from San Quentin," a performance that was born out of a 4 month workshop during which incarcerated men created theater pieces based on true life events that had profoundly transformed their way of being in the world.  Since 2007, Suraya has worked with Marin Shakespeare Company as the facilitator of the Shakespeare Program for male inmates at San Quentin State Prison.  Since her arrival at San Quentin, the men have rehearsed and performed three Shakespeare plays, including "Much Ado About Nothing," "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and "Romeo and Juliet."  On August 5, 2011, the theater group at San Quentin performed a hilarious musical version of "Twelfth Night," adapted by Lesley and Bob Currier (Managing & Artistic Directors of Marin Shakespeare Company), to a very delighted audience!  To see media coverage of "Twelfth Night," click here: http://www.ktvu.com/news/28785176/detail.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

In 2008, Suraya received a Theatre Bay Area CA$H Grant for Individual Theatre Artists, which she utilized to facilitate a five month theatre workshop with inmates at San Quentin.  For the project, men were invite to create an original theatre piece inspired by some moment in their lives in which they were profoundly transformed.  In an environment of mutual support and creative collaboration, men wrote and performed autobiographical scenes in which they revealed an outer decision they made that forever impacted their internal world.  The stories were fascinating, heartfelt and inspiring.  One man wrote of the abuse he suffered with a foster mother who didn't really care about him, his foray into drugs, alcohol and crime to escape his pain, and his "turnaround" moment of realizing that it was up to him to change his life for the better.  Another man shared of his experience growing up in the ghetto in which he was almost killed at 14 years old after being wrongly accused of stealing a bicycle.  From that experience, this young man first grasped the futility of violence, and choose to leave behind his gang infested community to pursue a life of peace.  In many of the stories, men spoke of a deep hurt they have felt, a hurt they have inflicted upon others, and a decision to shift their lives in such a way that they can have a positive impact on themselves and the world.  Below are some photos from the show:

A little boy was having difficulty lifting a heavy stone. His father came along just then. Noting the boy’s failure, he asked, "Are you using all your strength?"

"Yes, I am," the little boy said impatiently.

"No, you are not," the father answered. "I am right here just waiting, and you haven’t asked me to help you."

Author Unknown