TAKE ACTION - Discourse
 "Broad discourse is especially important on the issue of the death penalty because executions take place as almost secret rituals behind prison walls with only a few witnesses, so most people are never going to get close to state killings — unless the arts take them there."
~ Sister Helen Prejean
Tim Robbins has generously entrusted his play, “Dead Man Walking,” to students and faculty all across this country. In doing so Tim is forging a partnership with this generation to engage in serious study and reflection of the death penalty. This agreement to both produce the play and examine the layers of this major social issue reflects his understanding of the power of art to open minds and hearts to the struggles of humanity for justice and peace.
For the rights to produce the play, Tim requires that at least two academic departments in the school incorporate the issue of the death penalty into their curriculum for at least a semester within that year. Tim's sense of partnership is also reflected in his request that the students and faculty give him feedback on the play so he can improve upon the telling of this powerful story.
The schools that have participated in the play project since fall 2004 have more than met these requirements with creative approaches to presenting the issue in a variety of classes, and by designing new forums for study and discussion beyond the classroom.
Students have generated initiatives that allow discussion of the death penalty to go even beyond the campus community. A lively “discourse” has emerged on an issue that has been hidden from the eyes, minds and hearts of most Americans.
There are many words that describe the exchange of thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and ideas. However, of all the word choices – conversation, discussion, debate, deliberations, etc. – the one that most reflects the quality of exchange that the Play Project seeks to evoke or provoke is the word "discourse."
Discourse reflects such qualities of human engagement as respect, freedom, curiosity, openness, non-competitiveness, trust, and simply the delight in the free-flowing exchange of ideas and wisdom.
Discourse is more than a conversation because it reflects an engagement with ideas which often calls for a response – an action to be taken.
Engaging in discourse is not like a debate, in which a lively exchange of conflicting ideas/positions occurs, but in which no resolution occurs.
Discourse is an ongoing commitment to engagement with each other, and the issues of our community, for the sake of resolution.
The Death Penalty Discourse Network's commitment to social change and justice-making work is best reflected by its broad range of activities which stimulate a discourse on a major justice issue of our day, the death penalty. A growing number of community organizations and social change initiatives are recognizing the need for a more engaging process in which the issues of our times are explored, creative ideas are exchanged, and actions emerge. One of these initiatives, the Dead Man Walking School Theater Project, exemplifies the effort to engage our citizens in this national discourse on the death penalty.
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