Performers & contributers
michelle esrick
Michelle Esrick is an award winning filmmaker and sought after speaker on the subjects of trauma, addiction, recovery and using art for transformation. Michelle’s stories come from a personal and hard-earned place which illuminates love as the greatest healer.
In 2023, Michelle received the Mental Health Hero of The Year Award from Didi Hirsch Mental Health and Suicide Prevention along with Secretary of State Xavier Becerra and Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Her acceptance speech was so inspiring that it moved the audience to rise into a standing ovation. She asked everyone to take a photo of her all “Glammed Up” and then asked them to look at that photo when they felt lost or hopeless and to know that she had been homeless, drug addicted, hopeless and suicidal. Michelle believes our willingness to reveal our darkest moments is what connects and heals us.
As a filmmaker and activist, she used her last film Cracked Up, The Darrell Hammond Story (Netflix, Amazon Prime, ShowTime, Apple tv) for good when she screened it on Capitol Hill and shared her very personal story in front of congress revealing trauma as the root cause of addiction. Her courage and vulnerability were credited with helping inspire votes from both sides of the isle, which passed a law to implement trauma informed care into every treatment center around the country.
She has been speaking around the world on the healing power of love through art and storytelling.
Michelle: “we are biologically wired for connection and we need to be in community now more than ever! Love and connection are the salve to fear and division. Artists are the inspiration for truth of transformation.”
lady brion
Lady Brion is an international spoken word artist, activist, organizer and educator. Lady Brion currently serves as the executive director of the Black Arts District, an organization she founded in 2019. In 2024 she was appointed by Governor Wes Moore as the Poet Laureate of Maryland, making her the youngest Poet Laureate in Maryland’s history and the only spoken word artist to ever hold this position. She received her B.A. in Communication and Culture from Howard University and her MFA in Creative Writing & Publishing Design from the University of Baltimore. During her slam career she has won the 2016 and 2021 National Poetry Slam, the 2017 and 2019 Southern Fried Regional Slam, and the 2019 Rustbelt Regional Slam. In 2021 she became the Women of the World Poetry Slam Champion making her the number one ranked woman slam poet in the world.
rogan o’donnell
🎥 InhuMAINE
Suffering is an inherent part of the human condition. Not all mental health issues are existential in cause, but most carry existential weight.
A Clinical, Social Justice, Advocacy, and Narrative Exploration of Chronic Homelessness, Systemic Failure and Human Resilience in Bangor, ME
"Some stories don’t fit neatly into clinical charts or diagnostic codes. They live in tent encampments beneath overpasses… in the quiet ache of unmedicated nights… and in the eyes of the unseen told—again and again—that they don’t belong."
From classroom to community documentarian, Rogan O’Donnell brings counseling theory to life in a groundbreaking documentary on Bangor’s homelessness crisis. InhuMAINE explores homelessness, behavioral and mental health, HIV, and systemic neglect in Bangor, Maine. Filmed over 19 months, it blends advocacy, narrative healing, and integrated clinical practice into a powerful call to bear witness.
InhuMAINE is a feature-length documentary that examines the homelessness crisis in Bangor, Maine, through the voices of those living it. Filmed over 19 months, the project highlights the intersection of poverty, mental health, substance use, stigma, and systemic barriers—while also capturing resilience, dignity, and the human capacity for hope. At its core, InhuMAINE is a call to action to see, hear, and honor people too often pushed to the margins.
The film explores the complex intersections of poverty, trauma, mental illness, substance use, and stigma—revealing how systemic barriers and social neglect shape lives at the margins. Yet, at its core, InhuMAINE is not a story of despair but of resilience. It captures the dignity, courage, and persistence of those too often unseen, while challenging audiences to confront uncomfortable truths and reimagine what compassion and justice look like in practice.
By blending clinical insight, narrative healing, and documentary storytelling, InhuMAINE becomes more than a film: it is a call to action, urging viewers to recognize homelessness as a human crisis that demands systemic change and a collective response rooted in dignity, empathy, and hope.
The gawler sisters
The Gawlers Sisters are a fun-loving, folk-singing, fiddle-playing trio based in their native Maine.
On banjo, fiddle and cello, Molly, Edith, and Elsie bring beautiful songs, tunes, and stories from their roots in the heart of Maine.
Their music feels cut directly from their homeland's fields and forests, and though it is rooted in traditional "downeast" music, years of curiosity and travel into the world beyond have influenced their sense of musicianship. Their extensive collection of rollicking tunes in the Scots-Irish, Franco-American and Scandinavian traditions is complemented by angelic three-part-harmony, gutsy worksongs, folk-blues, and amusing odes to everyday life. This music is part of their heritage as the three sisters were taught to play and sing by their Mom (Ellen Gawler, fiddler and singer) and Dad (John Gawler, banjo player and songster.)
The Gawler's unique arrangements are especially engaging and often go along with anecdotes of historical or humorous content, delivered in the stoic but friendly style of true New Englanders.
They are often joined by the rest of the family, their parents John and Ellen Gawler, Zeb Campbell, Ethan Tischler, and Bennett Konesni to bring the full fledged, rip roaring, sky soaring tunes and songs to their performances.
With their infectious spirit and sparkling musicianship, the Gawlers have earned a beloved place in the delighted hearts of varied audiences across the Northeast. The folk music itself brings a sense of community and grassroots connection that is welcoming and from the heart.
cant dog
Like the tool invented in Maine, Cant Dog can roll, turn, pivot, and move sound like no other folk-rock band.
Gus LaCasse (fiddle) and Peter Kirn (guitar) vigorously lay it down for Rachel Bell's voluptuary voice, and the trio is explosive. Very new on the scene, anything can, and will happen with this band
FReedom & Captivity Initiative
Sensitivity Warning: The performance discusses mature topics and includes adult language that may not be suitable for all audiences.
Join us for It’s Hard to Talk About: Stories of Incarceration in Maine, a performance of true stories from the state's first archive dedicated to the experiences, insights, and knowledge of Maine’s incarcerated and formerly incarcerated Presented by the Freedom & Captivity Initiative’s Hard to Talk About… will feature five justice-impacted cast members sharing narratives that bridge the gap between those on the "inside" and "outside” and challenge oversimplified public narratives about crime and punishment by highlighting paths of transformation and growth.
Maine is unique for having some of the harshest sentencing practices in the entire country. Research shows, the majority of people held in Maine’s prisons and jails have experienced major life traumas and struggle with substance use disorder, mental health challenges, poverty, and low educational levels.
The performance runs 45-minutes, followed by a 30-minute Q&A and community conversation. This event is free and open to all.
The Cast
Linda Small is the founder and executive director of Reentry Sisters, a gender-responsive, trauma-informed support organization led by and for justice-impacted women. As an abolitionist storyteller and educator, she centers the voices of currently and formerly incarcerated individuals in every aspect of her work. Linda is deeply involved in the Freedom & Captivity Project, contributing to the development of community-based courses taught by incarcerated people that explore accountability, healing, and liberation.
A Columbia University Women’s Leadership Fellow and member of the Justice Scholars Network, Linda brings both lived experience and intellectual rigor to the pursuit of justice. Her work spans public humanities, program facilitation, developing a new model for reentry, and radio advocacy as a DJ for Justice Radio. She remains committed to transforming narratives and institutional practices through abolitionist, community-rooted storytelling and education
Catherine Besteman is an abolitionist educator at Colby College. She founded Freedom & Captivity, the Freedom & Captivity Curriculum Project, the Freedom & Captivity Archive of carceral experience, the Colby Across the Walls prison education program, and the Colby College Justice Think Tank and is a DJ for Justice Radio. She has researched and published on carcerality, security, militarism, displacement, and community-based activism and transformation, focused on Somalia, South Africa, and the U.S.
Ellen M. Taylor teaches at the University of Maine at Augusta, and in the Prison Education Program at the Maine State Prison, where she teaches writing and literature. She has published three collections of poetry, Floating (2009), Compass Rose (2015) and Homelands (2022), as week as scholarship on Maine women writers Celia Thaxter, Elizabeth Coatsworth, and Kate Barnes, considering intersections between gender, language, and ecology. She lives in the hills of Appleton, Maine.
Katrina Hoop is an anti-carceral educator and sociologist who has taught in the prison system in Maine. She has worked with many Maine-based non-profits engaged in justice work and currently serves on the board of Reentry Sisters.
Brandon Brown is a PhD candidate at George Mason University’s Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution. The focus of Brandon’s scholarship is on the ways in which narrative functions within the U.S. criminal legal system and social conceptions of justice. His journey into criminal legal reform work began when, at the age of 21, Brandon was arrested and subsequently sentenced to serve 17 years in prison, during which time he earned his Associate’s, Bachelor’s, and Master’s degrees, as well as completing the first half of his PhD program.
As a consultant, researcher, podcaster, public speaker, and advocate, Brandon uses narrative theory to uncover the master narratives which permeate society and stand in the way of comprehensive criminal legal reform, using his voice to advocate for system-wide policy change that centers the voices of affected stakeholders, draws on more complex stories from directly impacted people, and bridges the divide between marginalized people and society as a whole. Brandon is a 2024 Soros Justice Fellow, a project coordinator for Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition, and the co-creator and host of “Behind the Door” podcast; he has also worked on numerous grant-funded projects involving reform and abolitionist efforts both locally and nationally. Additionally, Brown has been adjunct faculty at University of Maine Augusta and Colby College and continues to teach college courses both inside and outside of prisons.
Nicole Lund is a prison abolitionist, artist, speaker, and writer pursuing a master’s in counseling psychology at the University of Maine at Farmington. With Buddy Bieler, she co authored Stuffed Behind Bars: Secret Recipes From Inside Maine State Prison which explores themes of community and connection as it relates to prison food systems. The two are working on their second collaboration, Cuffed & Buffed: How to Get Prison Jacked Without Weights.
The somes sound
The Somes Sound led by Gordon Falt has been cutting its teeth in the music halls of Downeast Maine in 2025. Falt is a devout country-rock fan, and historian who has studied Lefty Frizzell, The Flying Burrito Brothers, The Byrds and others, who in the late '60's mixed country themes with rock'n'roll. Ethan Miller shared a similar fascination with the genre bending of that era, and together, he and Falt started to explore and cover the material of country rock pioneers. Steve Peer saw the original trio and was bowled over by the bands enthusiasm and ability to swirl, surge and improvise. As fate would have it, he was asked the join the band. Tim Mellinnod turned the trio into a quartet, and contributes additional guitar and vocal interplay. Collectively The Somes Sound remains true to the roots of country rock while embracing southern boogie, funk, swing, blues and folk with jazz influences and improvisational jams.
abe barrett
Abe Barrett is a singer songwriter, wood sculptor,children’s book author, rock wall builder and garden steward. he has recorded over four albums of his own music, shared his sculptures in galleries from Maine to Maui and recently finished his new children’s picture book Sky and His Wooden Spoon which he authored and illustrated.
He now lives on the coast of Maine homesteading with his wife and two cats.
Vals porter
Livin’ Outside the Lines
with story teller, sculptor, painter, puppeteer, poet Vals Porter
…Made by Miss Staikes
My name is Vals Porter. I am the eye of we the Vals of Valerie. We are one we. We have survived multiple aces- adverse childhood experiences. As many of us in this society, we remember being taught to color inside the lines. It was impossible for me to conform to the restraints and restrictions and shackles of a greedy, toxic patriarchal society. It totes oneness not interdependence. Our creativity, has freed us along the way, to transform our experiences of child abuse, neglect, systemic oppression, from being a woman, a lesbian, an artist, a person who identifies as they them not because of gender only but because of expansion and multidimensionality, from the public school to the system of mental illness. We have had alternative experiences. One of which we saw writing in the sky. Love without fear. To this day, we will never forget the impact that had on how we have moved forward in our life. Every day, every moment that we experience fear. We face our fear, transform it, with unconditional love-for ourselves, and for others. Today, it seems, that coloring outside the lines is a danger. It sets us apart from what people have been taught in our oppressive systems. How many of us were told, you’ve got to color inside the lines? We have all been affected by this belief. This instruction is the beginning of enslaving us about how we do things and how we think. Today our art leads the way, with unconditional love, imagination, we experience freedom and justice.
We live outside the lines.
the healing garden
Immerse yourself in the healing vibrations of women's voices, drums, singing bowls, wah-wah tubes, chimes and more as The Healing Garden transports you through dimensions to explore your divine spirit and spiritual freedom. Allow the medicine of the healing instruments to ignite a deeper connection to the song of your soul, inspire your Artivism, and connect you to the sacred source of life within you. Enjoy the feeling of being in community with others who value authentic healing and return to the roots of human healing through sound therapies that allow you to remember who you truly are...a safe, empowered, inspired, loving being.