Savannah Repertory Theatre had a different kind of play tonight, in as much as "Prisontown" wasn't a play at all.
It was a one-man monologue, performed by the same person who wrote it.
Lee Osorio, of Venezuelan heritage and a tiny town in the USA, owned the stage there.
Not literally, of course, but figuratively, completely and totally.
It wasn't just his size, either, though he is a tall, fully fleshed, expressive man.
His eyes were the draw, catching the viewer's attention and not letting go of their ears.
He had a message to convey, a message with many moving parts, a message sure to hold different meanings for every individual in the audience.
For me, it was a reminder of the six years of visiting my youngest brother while he was incarcerated up in a tiny town in north Georgia.
Those had been good visits for both of us, restoring our hearts and souls.
That was not quite the visit Osorio described tonight, though he had been with someone unknown to him, who was not conversant in English.
However, the basic rules of the facility where his visit occurred were similar to those I'd had to follow for my visits to my sibling: no sandals, no skirts, no shorts (I had mouthed this one as he said it), no cellphones, just your drivers license and keys.
He didn't mention whether he was allowed to keep those last two items on his person or not; I had to surrender mine at the outer entrance.
The facility he spoke of is the Stewart Detention Center, opened in 2004.
The place I went to is Hays State Prison, which opened in 1990.
His is a place for detained illegal immigrants; mine is a medium security prison.
His is operated by a private corporation; mine is run by the state.
His holds up to 1752 detainees; mine has a capacity of 1683.
The detention center is in the tiny town of Lumpkin, population about 900, which is the county seat of Stewart County, population near 5300; that means the detention center is the primary job source in that agricultural area.
The prison is in the tiny town of Trion, population about 2000, located in Chattooga County, population over 25,000, with the county seat in adjacent Summerville, whose town population rivals that of the entire Stewart County; that means the folks in Trion have more job opportunities than those offered by the prison alone, giving them more options.
That makes a difference to the mindset of a community.
Options are important.
The lack of options, and lack of job opportunities, was at the heart of "Prisontown".
Trion is blessed to be a suburb of Summerville, giving its citizens the chance to have jobs at Mount Vernon Mills, or at the wide variety of stores and restaurants and service companies that support such a large manufacturer of denim.
Trion is also fortunate to be near the tourist trade of Summerville, with visitors drawn there by Reverend Howard Finster's Paradise Garden, as well as the many places in the National Register of Historic Places located there.
That means the presence of hotels, restaurants, gift shops, gas stations... get the picture?
Lumpkin has none of that going for it.
That town is the largest entity in the entirety of Stewart County... and the Stewart Detention Center is the largest entity in that town.
Once upon a time, back in the late 1960's, Lumpkin had acquired "The Fair of 1850" from Jonesboro, GA, renaming it as Westville Historic Handicrafts, then changing the name again in 2001 to Westville, which drew in tourists for the next fifteen years.
Then the attraction was bought by Columbus, GA, in 2016, lured there in the hopes of further enlarging both Westville and its associated tourist trade, opening in 2019...
just before the pandemic in 2020.
Might it to have survived the pandemic in the tiny Lumpkin?
Maybe, maybe not.
Providence Canyon is a nearby natural attraction in the same-named State Park.
However, that isn't really a source of jobs.
Folks who travel there come for camping, hiking, shooting photos, none of which require the presence of tourist trade support in the community.
So, why don't the citizens of Lumpkin leave?
Because that is the town of their grandfathers, that is the town they grew up in, that is the town where they are raising their children.
The detention center has only been there for the time of one generation.
Westville has been gone for less than half of a single generation.
Give the people time.
They'll leave when their grown children have jobs and families elsewhere.
The detention center may be closed by that time, without a new influx of workers.
Give the people time.
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