Papel Machete’s visionary ‘On the Eve of Abolition’ takes you there

What would a world without prisons look like?

With approximately 2 million people incarcerated in the United States at any given time, the highest in the world, and about 10 million people worldwide, it’s an audacious inquiry. A forthcoming science fiction production dares to tackle the question by bringing to life a universe in which prisons are eradicated.

“On the Eve of Abolition” is set in 2047, just 23 years from now, in what is formerly the U.S. and Mexico. In this future, prison abolitionists have successfully fought the carceral system and now find themselves in a position to shut down the last remaining prison.

It’s “a pretty radical idea,” said Deborah Hunt, head of the puppet and mask-making with Papel Machete, the Puerto Rican theater collective putting on the production. But the notion may not be as far-fetched as one might think. Hunt, who will play the role of the warden of the last standing prison, said 2047 is “just around the corner” and the world already feels like it’s in turmoil.

“You’ve got climate change. You’ve got resources changing. You’ve got people moving, people being impoverished. We’ve got homelessness. We’ve got terrible … political events happening in the world and also in the United States,” she said. “So we are also part of … cataclysmic events that I think are coming, if they’re not already here.”

Directed by Jorge Díaz, co-founder of AgitArte, a Lynn-based community arts collective, “On the Eve of Abolition” first debuted in Puerto Rico.

Now, the play will make its way to Boston for four nights from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3 at Emerson Paramount Center. Using a blend of puppetry, video projections, stop-motion, miniature sets and music, the production, performed mostly in English with songs in Spanish, will present a world without incarceration.

To craft the story, Papel Machete partnered with multimedia production studio Prison Radio to speak with political prisoners and incarcerated artists about their experiences, which Hunt said was essential in animating the story, particularly for painting an accurate picture of life behind bars.

While some people might believe prisons to be necessary, Hunt said, because “crime is a result of things not going well in society,” the prison abolition movement instead prioritizes examining and meeting people’s needs. Now, Papel Machete invites audience members to engage in the work, too, asking viewers to imagine what could be possible.

“Can people see that there is a need for another kind of society where prisons are not necessary? Can people, just for a while, suspend their judgment and see things differently and align with the fact that there are just millions of people in prisons who should never have been there in the first place?” Hunt said. “And can we envision together a future that is different, a system of living together that is different?”

ON THE WEB

Read more at artsemerson.org/events/on-the-eve-of-abolition