Madeleine Pabis was in the Carrboro ArtsCenter crowd that got shut out from a late August performance of Doing More Than Time, an original, autobiographical theater work written and performed by inmates from Women’s Prison in Raleigh, under the aegis of the N.C. Women’s Prison Writing and Performance Project. So Pabis, who teaches drama and speech at Saint Mary’s School, the historic private high school in downtown Raleigh, invited all the women down to her workplace. When she learned that the Writing and Performance Project had yet to make its Raleigh premiere, she convinced her drama students–and the school’s administration–to host a benefit production of the show. It’s the first step in an ongoing relationship between the project and St. Mary’s. The result is a collaborative effort with students, and the springtime premiere of a new work in progress, From the Inside Out. Before that, though, they’ve got to raise some money–which is where this benefit comes in. The project has been busy since the sold-out show in Carrboro, adding new material and reshaping Time. The dramatic authority of that performance, its script and the intensity of the troupe’s interactions with the audience were compelling. “Our students are learning about a broader women’s experience,” Pabis notes. “They’re seeing that they actually share things in common. They’re seeing that these women feel the same things they feel, and have gone through some of the same things they’re going through. They’re bridging the cultural and socioeconomic gaps.” Think you’ll just walk up to the door and grab a seat on show night? Remember what happened last time with this group. The “reservations hotline” number is 424-4063. 8 p.m. $15-$25.
