Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice
Illinois Youth Center – Chicago, IL
Shakespeare Behind Bars believes it is imperative to create transformational programs that provide incarcerated and at-risk youth with the tools they need to work towards a future outside correctional institutions and thereby reduce the rate of youth who will commit crimes that could lead to their spending their adult lives behind bars.
The Shakespeare Behind Bars juvenile programs employ the same vision, mission, values, and techniques that have proven successful in the adult program founded in 1995 at the Luther Luckett Correctional Complex in La Grange, KY.
First program 2019
Second program 2020
Due to COVID restrictions, the program was entirely virtual.
The JJ Effect
Jason Boulware, Filmmaker
2020 Documentary
True to Yourself
Third program 2021
The program was face to face.
The JJ Effect
Jason Boulware, Filmmaker
2021 Documentary
Life Thru My Eyes
Fourth program 2022
The program was face to face.
The JJ Effect
Jason Boulware, Filmmaker
2022 Documentary
To be or Not To Be: That is the Question
Fifth program 2023
The program was face to face.
The JJ Effect
Jason Boulware, Filmmaker
2023 Documentary
A Plague on Your Houses
Our program at Illinois Youth Center – Chicago made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts, Shakespeare in American Communities, Juvenile Justice Program, and administered by Arts Midwest.
Funding for Fifth Season was also provided by The Buck Foundation.
Sixth Program 2024
The program was face to face.
The JJ Effect
Jason Boulware, Filmmaker
2024 Documentary
We Begin and Begin Again
Funding for Sixth Season was provided by a generous grant from an Anonymous Donor.