Michael Agnew, Jan Estep, and the NECC Actors, Doing Time, Nothing But Time, 2009, collaborative artist book, paperback, perfect bound, black-and-white, offset printed with dvd-r insert, 80 pages, 9" x 6.5".
Doing Time, Nothing But Time
Doing Time, Nothing But Time documents the multimedia performance and residency project conducted by Michael Agnew and Jan Estep with incarcerated men at Northeast Correctional Center (NECC), a close-security men’s prison in Bowling Green, Missouri. The original performance piece was the result of a four-month collaborative creative process that used theater, writing, and video to explore the theme of time. The collaboration brought together four groups: Michael Agnew and Groundswell Community Performance, Minneapolis; Jan Estep and the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Agnes Wilcox and Prison Performing Arts, St. Louis, Missouri; and the actors and staff of Northeast Correctional Center, Bowling Green, Missouri.
The theatrical script is composed of material from group discussions, recorded interviews, and the original written work of the participants. Only the participants’ actual words are used. The final play combined live performance of the script and projected video Time and Time Again, also created with the NECC actors, into a multi-faceted exploration of the men’s own experiences of and thoughts about time. Doing Time, Nothing But Time was performed inside Northeast Correctional Center, July 8, 9, 10, 2008.
Produced after the final performances, this project book - designed and edited by Estep - features an introductory essay, the full theatrical and video scripts, and a selection of the men’s original writings and drawings created during the residency. Inserted into the back page of each book is a DVD-R featuring the final performances, post-performance question-and-answer sessions with the actors and audience, and the stand-alone video Time and Time Again. The book was published in spring 2009 and is available at Printed Matter, New York and on this website.
Time and Time Again and Doing Time, Nothing But Time were funded by the Institute for Advanced Study, the Office of the Vice President for Research, and the Department of Art at the University of Minnesota. The project was part of the 2006-2008 University Symposium on Time.
Graphic cartoons by M.X. Campbell.
