Ismael Corona, as he usually describes his own story, always had death on one hand and life on the other. As he grew up on the marginalised barrios of south eastern Mexico City, the hand that held death had a far stronger sway over his life. He channelized his acute intellect, overwhelming energy and existential anxiety to gang life and mischief that differed little with crime. Anger, resentment and violence grew within him. At the age of 17, during a brawl between rival gangs, Ismael stabbed 12 times and killed a rival gang member.
He spent the next 3 years of his life in a juvenile prison in Mexico City. He came out a changed man. Not because of the torture and confinement he suffered from the prison guards. But because he got involved in theater workshops as an actor. Today, looking back over his life, he realises that acting and theater gave him the psychological, emotional and social tools that were absent during his upbringing. All of a sudden, he had an activity that allowed him to critically reflect on his life and actions, a discipline that took the shame away of feeling sad and admitting he was lost: he gained access to his own emotions. 10 years have passed since he came out. In that time, he never went back to crime, he got married, had a son and devoted his life to acting and to the Compañia de Teatro Penitenciario, a theater company that works with inmates in the Santa Marta Penitentiary in Mexico City. He has helped other inmates renew their lives through theater, collaborated with some of Mexico's most acclaimed playwrights and has been nominated to some of the country's most prestigious theater awards. Ismael says that he will do his best to place life on both of his son's hands, because he now knows that choosing life is the most important thing a human being can do.