A unique Prison Performing Arts program is underway in St. Louis, Mo., as former prisoners present short performance pieces about Old Masters works that inspired them. The participants are graduates of Employment Connection, a Missouri workforce-development agency assisting former inmates. They have been exploring the Old Masters exhibition at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts and studying writing, movement, voice, diction and performance with Washington University students from the Performing Arts, English, Design and Visual Arts Departments. Concurrently, specialized classes through Employment Connection help them bridge their work in class to the development of employment and life skills. For five weekends in April and May 2009, they're showing their work at Pulitzer during "Staging Old Masters." The project Web site has a schedule, bios, interviews, photos and links to Prison Performing Arts and similar programs. [LINK] Posted by Linda Frye Burnham