Prison Break, Incorporated

 

In Prison Break, Incorporated, a pot-dealing dog walker (Nate) and his life coach friend (Ellie) sign up for Prison Break, a week-long event at Ravenstown Prison. There, they’ll live among inmates as inmates until the event ends in a race masquerading as an escape. In between, they’ll participate in the prison’s wellness-inspired rehabilitation programs, tangle with its corrupt Chief of Guards, and endure the showy pretensions of its innovation- and stock options-obsessed Administrator, whose latest program – an inmate job training center and marijuana grow house – is attracting protesters to the prison fence line.

On the outside, Nathan and Ellie reject the socio-economic status quo in their own ways: Nathan drops in and out of the workforce and sponges off his real-estate-mogul mother, while Ellie helps stifled strivers work past their hang ups and achieve their work/life dreams. Each leverages their privilege. But on the inside, when they meet Eddie – a one-time drug addict serving a lengthy term for crack cocaine possession – they must reconcile their lives to the realities of the nation’s underclass and face their complicity with the ‘system’ they wish to reshape. The result is Frontline meets Survivor meets Orange is the New Black.

Praise for Prison Break, Incorporated

DC Metro Theater Arts: “While it asks serious questions, the play is hilarious and over-the-top. It’s smart, funny, and perfect for those who love Survivor or Orange is the New Black.”

DC Theatre Scene: “Prison Break, Incorporated is a raucous, absurd ride with clever writing. It feels like a John Irving novel.”

About Derek Hills
DEREK HILLS is a storyteller and playwright from Washington, DC. He’s notched over 100 performances on several DC-area stages, including Story District, The Moth, and Better Said Than Done. He’s also appeared in e-Geaux (beta) and Apocalypse Picnic at the Capital Fringe Festival, and debuted his full-length comedy, Prison Break, Incorporated, in 2016. He contributes occasional freelance arts criticism and essays to the Washington City Paper and Washington Post. His new play, Shopworn, premieres July 17, 2018 at the Capital Fringe Festival..

Prison Break, Incorporated premiered at the 2016 Capital Fringe Festival.

No Sex, Please premiered at the 2013 Capital Fringe Festival.

Photos by Johnny Khan. Graphic design by Garrett Oie.