Music and Transformation: The Liberating Effects of Music Programs in Central Ohio’s Prisons.

Danielle works alongside Dr. Catherine Roma at Dayton Correctional Institution for Women and Marion Correctional Men’s Prison in Marion, OH. Music programs at these institutions were begun by Dr. Roma as part of the Ohio Prison Choral Arts Program. Inmates experience music as a force for self-expression, reconciliation, storytelling, and empowering connections to their own history. Most recently, Danielle was a part of The Hamilton Project at Marion Correctional, starring as Eliza Hamilton alongside residents of Marion, who played the leads of Hamilton, Burr, Washington, Lafayette, Hercules Mulligan, Jefferson, and Laurens. The residents worked alongside professional artists and directors, not only learning the music but taking an entire year to delve into the complicated history of the Founding Fathers. The four performances had almost a thousand attendees, and post-performance talkback sessions with the inmates were full of poignant, eloquent discussions on the ideas of democracy, poverty in America, systemic racism, and what it means to leave a moral legacy. The beauty of these rare interactions between the public and inmates at these institutions helps highlight the need for reform of the prison system, as well as the rehabilitative benefits of community music making and education for prisoners. Residents of Dayton Correctional and Marion Correctional were also part of a revolutionary experiment in opera theatre with Heartbeat Opera of NYC, singing in the chorus of their production Beethoven’s Fidelio by way of video. Both The Hamilton Project and Fidelio were met with such enthusiasm that both are undergoing a re-mount in 2020.