Bryonn Bain brings his ‘Lyrics to Lockdown’ stage presentation to the Academy Museum Dec. 12. The performance shares the stories of people impacted by imprisonment and explores the criminal justice process in America.
Courtesy photo
By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — Bryonn Bain’s “Lyrics From Lockdown” is a theatrical experience that brings to life the voices of more than 40 individuals who have faced the dark underbelly of America’s justice system.
The production will be live-streamed to prisons for a one-night-only performance in Los Angeles on Dec. 12.
It shares stories of individuals impacted by imprisonment and explores the criminal justice process in America. The evening also includes a post-show discussion with individuals currently incarcerated, who are joining the live stream.
As a poet, actor, and professor of African American studies, theater, film and television, and world arts and cultures/cance at UCLA, Bain, 45, a Tony-nominated artist, draws from his experience with the American justice system. He was imprisoned by the New York Police Department, ironically, while studying law at Harvard.
It happened in 2002. Bain, who also attended Columbia University in New York and New York University, where he was the class president, was arrested for warrants that weren’t his and spent three days and two nights in jail before being released without conviction — a stark case of identity theft.
Bain credits a professor with inspiring him to share his story. He wrote about his arrest in an essay “Walking While Black: The Bill of Rights For Black Men” for the Village Voice.
“She told me to write a hip-hop opera about it,” he said.
Originally from Brooklyn, Bain was recruited by UCLA to establish the Center for Justice and Prison Education Program, which offers UCLA classes in about a dozen prisons across Southern California.
His work utilizes the arts and activism to promote justice, reform the criminal justice system, support prison education and advocate for abolition, inspiring movement-building and community engagement.
Bain believes everyone should care about those who are incarcerated.
“We want people in prison to have access to education and opportunities, so they can thrive when they come home,” said Bain, who has lived in Los Angeles for 10 years. “We owe it to those who paved the way. People like Harry Belafonte and Delroy Lindo poured into me. We need to use art to inspire and uplift, and pour into the next generation.”
Bain’s experience with the justice system ignited “Lyrics From Lockdown,” a multimedia production blending hip-hop, calypso, spoken word, R&B and classical music to expose the contradictions between America’s prison system and its democratic ideals.
“I blend all of those genres because I think of it like a gumbo,” Bain said. “It’s all these great flavors in the pot. I also inject some humor into the show because I was raised on, ‘You gotta laugh to keep from crying.’”
“This show is done so well,” said Claudia Peña, 46, the show’s lead producer and co-founder of UCLA’s Prison Education Program, alongside Bain after they met during a training at the school in 2019. “Watching this show, people will go from laughing to dancing and crying.”
Peña, who’s Nahua from Central America and grew up partly in California, says she’s “Always so moved by the feeling in the room.”
“People feel inspired,” she said. “They feel they want to do something. It’s a peace that makes you want to do better.”
Developed in prisons across 25 states, the show premiered at Harlem’s National Black Theatre in 2013.
At its core is Bain’s correspondence with his friend Nanon Williams, who was wrongfully incarcerated at 17 and has spent more than 33 years behind bars.
Williams grew up in Los Angeles, excelling academically and athletically, with dreams of playing football. He received over 17 scholarship offers. At 17, he was wrongfully convicted of murder and sentenced to death in Texas. While on death row, he discovered a passion for writing, publishing poems in “The Ties That Bind Us” (2000) and later writing essays and books such as “The Darkest Hour” and “Still Surviving.”
“Nanon is one of the most beautiful, compassionate human beings I’ve ever met,” Bain said. “He got involved in drugs, but didn’t commit the crime. He’s been locked up in those cages for 33 years. Dehumanizing conditions. It was traumatizing for me.”
“Lyrics From Lockdown” has traveled globally, breaking records and earning awards, including best solo performance from LA Weekly and the NAACP.
Bain, whose parents immigrated from Trinidad, is a married father of three sons, including Immanuel (16) and Idries (14), who will join the band on stage.
His and Peña’s work showcases art’s power to spark change.
“When you see folks who’ve been there for these long sentences in a cage, you have to really reframe and reshape how you think about it, and how you move through life,” Peña said.
Bain and Peña are passionate advocates who have experienced incarceration firsthand. Bain was wrongly imprisoned, while Peña has spoken about her own journey towards healing and advocacy.
“I got in trouble as a young person at 16-17,” she said. “I was guilty of my crime. I had to pay the price. I had done well in school. I had people who believed in me and were able to redirect.”
Both Bain and Peña believe there should be an alternative to “putting people in cages” as punishment.
“I think it’s a trauma-to-prison pipeline,” Peña said. “It’s their own unaddressed trauma. Hurt people hurt people. We need to use our resources more effectively so people can do healing work. There should be healing centers instead of prisons.”
“Lyrics From Lockdown” started with the Blackout Arts Collective’s Lyrics on Lockdown Tour, which ran from 2001 to 2005 and touched more than 250 colleges, universities, prisons, schools and theaters in Africa, Asia and Europe.
The show features music from Bain’s “Problem Child” album, as well as his mixtapes “Don’t Be Scared” and “Life After Lockdown.” It was first performed for incarcerated audiences at Rikers Island, Sing Sing and Ironwood State Prison.
Bain believes art can play a role in social justice movements.
“Art plays many roles,” he said. “It can be medicine, a weapon, or a tool for liberation and resistance.”
Peña believes education plays an essential role in addressing mass incarceration.
“The show expands people’s imagination,” she said. “We have a crisis of imagination. It seems like we as a society don’t know what else to do.”
Bain believes the system is working as intended.
“It’s perpetuating subjugation by disproportionately affecting marginalized communities through incarceration, exploitation, and limiting access to power,” he said. “The country’s priorities are reflected in its budget, with billions allocated to prisons, incarceration and immigration enforcement, while essential services like mental health, education, community safety and social support are underfunded. This approach addresses social problems through incarceration, which is ineffective and likely intentional.”
The country’s challenges notwithstanding, Bain is confident the show will continue to have a positive impact on audiences.
“We do this show because we want Nanon to be free,” Bain said. “I want people to see that we have the power to use our talents, tools, community, and organizing to liberate our brothers and sisters who are experiencing captivity. I want them to believe and have hope and faith in the idea that we, as the children of God, can come together and change the world.”
“Lyrics From Lockdown” is executive produced by Gina Belafonte (“BlacKkKlansman”), Rob Reiner (“Spinal Tap II”), and Delroy Lindo (“Sinners”). Before his passing in 2023, Harry Belafonte was an avid supporter and executive producer.
“Lyrics From Lockdown” returns to Los Angeles for one night only at 7 p.m. Dec. 12, at the Academy Museum, 6067 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles.
The production has invited students from across Los Angeles to the upcoming shows. Please use the following link for complimentary tickets and information: https://bit.ly/.
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com.
