"I Come From" illustrates the mission of the Voices Inside program which is to develop empathy, compassion and trust, and to nurture a desire to help others. Founded by Henson, this inspirational inmate writing and theatre program is housed at Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison near Danville, KY. It uses theatre arts and creative thinking to increase communication skills, build self-esteem, humanize and enrich the lives of those closed off
behind bars. Incarcerated writers in the program have won national awards and their works have been performed at Actors Theater of Louisville and NYC theaters.
The public film screening is an event in the Ashland University College of Arts and Sciences’ biennial Symposium Against Indifference. The theme for this year’s series is “Building Bridges Through Dialogue.” Henson's visit is co-sponsored by the Department of Theatre and is free and open to the public.
Robby Henson received his M.F.A. from New York University's graduate film school. His films have been seen on PBS, the BBC, at Lincoln Center, the Museum of Modern Art, the Georges Pompidou Center in Paris and at film festivals in Canada, Ireland, France, Yugoslavia, Australia and Poland. He has directed over 30 theater productions and has made 5 award winning documentaries shown on PBS including "Spalding Gray: A Life in Progress" and "Trouble Behind," a film about a Southern race riot that was shown at the Sundance Film Festival.
His dramatic first feature,"Pharaoh's Army," with Academy Award winner Chris Cooper, Academy Nominee Patricia Clarkson and music legend Kris Kristofferson was released theatrically by Lions Gate Films and was shown on PBS. In 2002 he wrote and directed "The Badge," a southern crime drama starring Billy Bob Thornton, Patricia Arquette, Thomas Hayden Church and Sela Ward for Starz Pictures and Lions Gate Films that was nominated for a GLAAD Media Award (Gay and Lesbian Alliance) and won Best Drama at the Breckinridge Film Festival. He has also directed the thrillers "The Visitation," "There" and "House" for Fox and Lions Gate. He currently teaches media at the University of Kentucky.
