Gabacho: Drugs Landed Me In Mexican Prison, Theater Saved Me

By: Brian Whitney and Richard Jewkes

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Synopsis: A young man&’s rebellion lands him in a Mexican prison, where theater becomes a lifeline in this memoir of angst, crime, friendship and redemption. Richard Jewkes was in his senior year as a University of Utah theater student when he became disenchanted with his strict Mormon upbringing. Over Christmas break, he and a college friend took off for Mexico seeking adventure. If the adventure hadn&’t included smuggling drugs, it might have just been another college road trip. But after a disastrous encounter with a drug cartel, the two young men ended up arrested by Mexican Federales while trying to make it to the US border. When Jewkes and his friend are tossed into a Mexican prison, they anticipate torture, assault, and even death. After a fight with a notorious killer and struggles with tormenting guards, they make a disastrous escape attempt. But ultimately, Jewkes finds his path to survival when he starts a theatre group with a rag-tag bunch of fellow convicts.