| W O R D I N F I R M I A |

WORD INFIRMIA: THE CRIMINAL PERSPECTIVES PROJECT

DEVELOPED AND PERFORMED BY PERRI YANIV | DIRECTED BY GLYNIS RIGSBY

SOUND DESIGN BY EDMUND MOONEY | LIGHTING DESIGN BY ADRIAN JONES | STAGE MANAGED BY EMILY WATTS

NY FRINGE FESTIVAL 2005

THE FLEA THEATER

41 WHITE STREET BETW BROADWAY AND CHURCH

A C E 6 N Q R W to CANAL or 1 to FRANKLIN

5:00PM FRIDAY AUGUST 12

2:40PM SUNDAY AUGUST 14

9:00PM THURSDAY AUGUST 18

3:40PM SATURDAY AUGUST 20

8:30PM TUESDAY AUGUST 23

3:10PM WEDNESDAY AUGUST 24

WORD INFIRMIA: THE CRIMINAL PERSPECTIVES PROJECT theorizes that perceptions and definitions of crime vary.

How, then, do we differentiate between acceptable and unacceptable behavior?

Research for The Criminal Perspectives Project was carried out at several sites in Missouri and New
York during the summer of 2003. The Missouri Eastern Correctional Center, the St. Louis County Jail, Aide
for Victims of Crime, and the University City Police Station were completed as a result of my involvement
with Prison Performing Arts and the leadership of artistic director Agnes Wilcox. The Fortune Society, the
main site in New York, is a social service program that focuses on relapse prevention, alternatives to prison,
and a multitude of treatment service programs for people newly released from New York State penitentiaries.
A total of 25 people were interviewed, with four individuals unaffiliated to any organization or institution.
I used open-ended interview questions that focused on criminal experiences, perceptions, and definitions of crime.

From a criminal's perspective, betrayal may be considered more of a crime than drug-dealing. By talking to
the variety of inmates, prison administrators, ex-offenders, mandates, police officers and victims involved
with the project, it became clear to me that our perceptions of criminality are related to our personal
experiences. What we are taught by our parents, schools, peers and law enforcement is only a part of how
we perceive the law and crime. What we see, do and believe for ourselves will dictate how we justify our
wrong-doings; those moments of deviant actions that could be reprimanded if we were caught. But we're not.

Local communities, friends, families and other social systems define crime and implement punishment
separate from our government and the perception of our legal system as to what constitues criminal behaviour.
This project addresses the need for a broader definition of crime. By addressing criminals as people instead of statistics
or stereotypes, we can immediately see reflections of the behavior, logic and compassion present within all of us.

--Perri Yaniv--

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