Program Notes
“We all need rehabilitation,” is a belief that has guided Pati Hernandez’s life. Fearless curiosity about others has informed her clear understanding that “We cannot ignore our differences any more than we can ignore our privileges.”
Joining Lesley, Pati discusses the value of diving into the muddiness and imperfection of life, and an examination of how we regularly contribute to the building of social walls. Considering how we can reconcile what we are internally with what we have to be out in the world, in order to survive, Pati guides Lesley and you, the audience, on the journey of a lifetime.
About Pati
Ten years after living through the coup that took place in Chili when she was fourteen, Pati Hernandez flew to the US with a 1 way ticket and her backpack. Landing in New York’s Lower East Side, she worked with Latin American women in the areas of literacy and theater. Later taking her talents for what she calls “Serving the situation through art,” Pati worked with men in New Jersey’s largest correctional facility. Discovered by Dartmouth College’s Ivy Sweitzer, director of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, Pati took her program to Dartmouth to create a program that introduced female college students with incarcerated women through improvisational theater. The documentary ‘It’s Criminal’ is based on this work.
