One afternoon last week, in the gymnasium of the women’s prison in Purdy, a few loudspeakers blasted TLC’s 1994 hit single “Waterfalls”—a cautionary tale in verse about the perils of drugs, crime, and unprotected sex. A couple dozen women in gray, prison-issue sweat suits danced and sang along enthusiastically, their voices echoing off the walls: “Don’t go chasing waterfalls/Please stick to the rivers and the lakes that you’re used to…”
The song was part of the women’s warm-up before Truth Flows Like Water: Transformations in Perdition, a play they had written over the past few months alongside teaching artists from Freehold’s Engaged Theatre Program. The night before, they’d performed its world premiere for an audience of roughly 200 other prisoners at the Washington Corrections Center for Women…
