New Haven local poet, Yale Law School Ph.D. candidate, and MacArthur Genius Fellow, Reginald Dwayne Betts adapts his critically-acclaimed book of poetry, Felon, into a solo performance about re-imaging paper. Felon: An American Washi Tale begins with the pages of a book being slid into a cell, traverses stoves made of toilet paper, kites from a father, handwritten affidavits, legal complaints, handmade paper, certificates of pardon, & 1,000 squares fashioned from the clothing of men serving life sentences. Betts weaves traditional theater, poetry, fine art, and Japanese paper making aesthetic principles into a meditation on his own experiences of incarceration and his legal work to free friends that are still in prison. This reflection on the challenges of living in the shadow of mass incarceration is a story of violence, love, and fatherhood. Betts is the founder of Freedom Reads, a first-of-its-kind organization working to radically transform access to literature in prisons.