Written inside Dixon Correctional Center, The Story of Violence is one of more than 15 original works created by a dozen men who were part of the Dixon Performing Arts program.
A play written by men incarcerated in an Illinois prison won a regional Public Media Journalists Association Award for Audience Engagement this week.
The Story of Violence, a play created by a dozen members of the Dixon Performing Arts program at Dixon Correctional Center, has been performed in spaces across Chicago, including a Logan Square church and Kennedy-King College in Englewood. The medium-security prison is located approximately 100 miles west of the city.
The award stemmed from a performance of the play on WBEZ’s Prisoncast!, an Illinois-wide radio show and journalism project made in collaboration with and for people in prison.
“[The play] is about us gaining our collective power to overcome these forces that might come our way, recognizing that we are all one and that we all have some similarity,” said Toussaint Daniels, co-founder of the Dixon Performing Arts program and playwright.
At 18 years old, Daniels was sentenced to 26 years in prison. He turned to reading and writing during this period, and has sustained the passion ever since.
The play unfolds in a downtown Chicago hotel room, following a man who draws on the perspectives of a range of characters while writing a eulogy about a young girl who was killed.
The Story of Violence considers solutions to the systemic fracturing of Chicago communities that occurred through practices like redlining – the decades-long federal policy of color-coding cities to restrict loans and investment in marginalized communities – which left indelible marks on the city, especially in Black neighborhoods.
Arts programming has lasting benefits
Prison arts programs offer participants a rare opportunity to explore creatively and practice self- expression—experiences that foster connection and community in prison—and translate to better outcomes for returning citizens.
Brian Beals has been a member of the Dixon Performing Arts program since its inception as the Dixon Theatre Workshop in 2018.
Beals was arrested and wrongfully convicted in 1988 and served 35 years in prison. In 2023, his wrongful conviction was overturned, and Beals received his certificate of innocence in 2025.
He is now executive director of Mud Theatre Project, which produces The Story of Violence alongside Still Point Theatre Collective and Teamwork Englewood.
“Theater opened us up, made us whole human beings,” he said. “To try to craft a meaningful life under the harshest circumstances that one can imagine.”
Beals was primarily drawn to theater while incarcerated because of the brotherhood and community, but he recognized personal benefits too.
“It kind of helped me stay upright,” he said. “It fueled the imagination to help me sustain hope that ultimately I will be vindicated, and then ultimately it happened.”
The measurable impact of participation
Shakespeare Behind Bars, one of the country’s longest running prison writing programs, notes that within three years of their release, 94 percent of participants do not return to prison. The national average of reincarceration within the same time frame is more than four times higher, a recent brief found.
Beals noted that the benefits extend beyond those directly associated with such initiatives. He said those involved with the Dixon Performing Arts program engaged with other men about their experiences, fostering conversations and enabling the creative works to tell real stories that people could relate to.
After returning home, Daniels co-founded the Mud Theatre Project, an initiative aimed at bringing socially engaged theater to youth and people who are incarcerated.
“You don’t only have the ability to perform, but the ability to educate and introduce them to the intergenerational traumas that impact their lives,” Daniels said, emphasizing the value of the arts in healing and restorative justice.
“That’s part of the reason why we wanted things like this in this space and in this city,” said Lindsey Joyce, a pastor at Grace Church who focuses on worship and justice. “That healing sort of spills out into everything.”
More performances of The Story of Violence are to be held at the Resilience Arts Festival and the Social Change Theatre Festival, with details yet to be announced.
