March Forth

Join a special screening of March Forth, a film about the poet, author, lawyer, activist, and 2021 MacArthur Fellow Reginald Dwayne Betts. Following the screening, there will be a moderated conversation with Reginald Dwayne Betts, Robe Imbriano (Director & Executive Producer), and Thomas Curtis (Production Designer and Animator).

Reginald Dwayne Betts went to adult prison at 16 and survived to write about it. March Forth is an intimate exploration into the life and thoughts of this acclaimed poet, author, lawyer, activist, and MacArthur “Genius Award” winner. Betts served almost nine years for carjacking, and before becoming an adult, bore witness to the cruelties of the American legal system. In prison, he named himself “Shahid,” meaning witness in Arabic. In solitary confinement, he became a poet. After his release on March 4th, 2005, Betts was determined to march forth into the world and leave prison behind. He began teaching, published multiple award-winning collections of poetry, a memoir, and even graduated from Yale Law School.

As an attorney, he’s secured the release of men he served time with. But instead of leaving prison behind, in 2020, he created Freedom Reads, a non-profit that places libraries he curates in prison cell blocks across America. The return has been complicated. Going back means remembering who is left behind and, more painfully, those he’s failed to get free. March Forth offers an intimate look into how he carries the two realities he moves through: one of immeasurable success and contribution and accolades and one of guilt and persistent doubt of his own self-worth. Through live performance, animation, poetry, and memoir excerpts narrated by Brian Tyree Henry, March Forth explores the lasting impact of serving time in adult prison as a teenager.

See full details at tomorrowtheater.org .