The Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe directly serves 10 homeless adults: 8 men and 2 women of all races, of whom 75% suffer mental and/or physical disability and past substance abuse. Interactive performances will reach 300-400 more homeless individuals and 100 other theatregoers. Each year, over 100,000 New Yorkers experience homelessness. The Theatre Troupe serves as a vehicle for empowerment and collective problem-solving.
vital stats:
people impacted:
350
people involved:
19
why it's important:
I believe that every human being is an actor in his or her own life. When a person rehearses for reality onstage, rehearses, that is, alternatives to discrimination and injustice, in a fun and supportive environment, this individual knows that he or she has the power, knowledge and ability to "act out" the same changes and interventions in "real life." I have seen the Theatre of the Oppressed methodology empower so many people to take responsibility for change in their own lives, that I can't help but believe in its effectiveness, for NYC's homeless as well as for the audience members who will participate in the show.
the plan of action:
The Jan Hus Homeless Theatre Troupe uses Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) as a medium for communal problem-solving around the issues of homelessness, joblessness and related discrimination. In their daily lives, the actors struggle with mental illness, addiction, alcoholism, family problems, unemployment, hunger, lack of sleep, and the stigma of homelessness. TO is a unique tool because it uses interactive, physical and playful exercises to help the actors explore situations in which they feel either personally or collectively powerless to make positive change. The actors are introduced to TO methodology through theatre games designed to allow them to critically examine their experiences and to articulate the collective problems they face. Participants are encouraged to share their personal stories which the group then improvises, scripts and stages. The director guides this process but never dictates the group’s artistic choices.
Ultimately, the group presents a public performance about a collective problem they want to change. The audience is invited to propose solutions to the problem by taking the place of the protagonist on stage. The director moderates the forum and asks the audience to consider the potential of each proposed solution.
By imagining and rehearsing solutions together onstage, participants explore their role in perpetuating the problem and prepare themselves to take action offstage. This program empowers the homeless to be catalysts for change in their own lives and communities, and it encourages participants to create a culture of cooperation, honesty, and safe physical communication.
The production that the Troupe is currently creating and rehearsing deals with discrimination in the courts and by the police, as well as difficult or destructive choices made by the homeless individuals themselves. The members have been working since June, and have, over the four months, become infinitely more responsible to the project, learning to show up to rehearsal on time and sober, thinking about the play outside of rehearsal and coming in with ideas, and entering rehearsal with a professional attitude. The Troupe members are exhibiting pride around their work and experiencing the new feeling of having completed a personal project--they are spreading the word to all their colleagues around the city, and we are expecting a big turnout at the premiere. The next step is to secure more venues for the NYC tour, and find funding for the tour, in order to spread the word and increase the project's impact.
how you can get involved:
Help us find more venues for a NYC-area tour in late 2010-early 2011; volunteer to help us during the tour, with transportation, as a stage manager, etc; show respect to the homeless all over; spread the word!
project updates:
Final Grant Update
06/17/2011
Katy Rubin
45
630
Most importantly, winning a DoSomething grant connected me to the wonderful support and resources that DoSomething offers. The emails to grant alumni have already provided my organization with many other opportunities and more support. In addition, every grant helps Theatre of the Oppressed NYC's track record in getting other grants, and indeed, since receiving the Growth Grant in December, we've received grants from: Eileen Fisher Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Northern Manhattan Arts Alliance, and Theatre Communications Group, as well as a sponsorship from Flip Camera.
Finally, the Growth Grant enabled us to physically travel to our performances, feed ourselves before performances, buy supplies to build set and props, and helped in printing costs--all crucial elements for our June tour of HELLTER SHELTER.
1. We found a way to incorporate "popular film production" into our "popular theatre;" that is, the homeless actors took donated cameras into the streets to film footage of the shelters and conduct interviews with other homeless individuals as well as Upper East Side residents (where we rehearse). We were able to integrate that footage into the new play, which was very powerful and empowering for the actors.
2. We were able to collaborate with a socially-conscious publishing company, Loudmouth Press, that put out a book of photos of panhandling signs from across the country alongside testimonials from homeless individuals. They donated one copy of this beautiful book, entitled Why Are You Surprised I'm Still Here, to each actor, and then created an exhibit of the photos and original signs in the homeless outreach organization where we held our opening performance, and they had a book signing after the show. It was a great surprise!
3. We had 5 performances of HELLTER SHELTER total this month, plus 2 performances of sections of the show before it opened. Six of these events were in different neighborhoods in NYC, and involved travel. The experience of the Homeless Troupe working together as professional actors: packing a suitcase of props, having a collective meal, passing around Metrocards and hauling all our things to the subway, to ride from the Upper East Side to Crown Heights, for example, and on the subway giving each other notes about the show and just talking about life--this experience is just as meaningful as the creation and performance of the show itself. In evidence, in all the interviews the press has done with the Troupe, they first talk about the friendship, camaraderie, sense of family that has developed. And family is something that most of the actors haven't had in a very long time.
In Jan and Feb 2011, we focused our energies in the Homeless Theatre Troupe on remounting our first original, interactive production, It Could Happen to You, for three additional performances: one at a Hebrew School for 6th and 7th graders, and two more at the homeless outreach organization where we rehearse. Once these performances were over, at the end of February, we began to prepare to create our new show. We had planned from the beginning to integrate multimedia in the new show, to help the audiences experience the life of a homeless person in New York City through original documentary footage, as well as through live action. In the beginning stages, we were out on the street, in the cold, filming and interviewing. We worked with a media director who we were able to hire, through grant support, and he taught us the ins and outs of the cameras, as well as helped with editing--which takes forever, we learned! At the same time, we were having many discussions during rehearsals, and the talks kept coming around to the discrimination and corruption in the NYC shelter system, which has caused many actors in the Troupe to choose the streets instead, often for their own physical safety. So, we started focusing our filming, our storytelling and our improvisations in rehearsal around the actors' experiences in the shelters. At the same time, we started a blog where the actors wrote and shared original poetry and spoken word, and this poetry started to get integrated into the show as well.
We were invited to perform the show in 5 different community venues around the city, as well as share part of the show at the Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing's Sleep Out, and at the Shabazz Center where Malcolm X was assassinated. So...we went into serious rehearsal mode, heading for our opening on June 9th, creating the flyer and program and alerting the press.
The performances and interactive forums with the audiences have been spectacular. Each audience, of theatre-goers and homeless peers alike, experienced an original play, created and performed by homeless actors, about discrimination in the NYC shelter system, and was then invited onstage to help us problem-solve. We've seen approximately 25 interventions in the different moments of oppression in the play, which include guards who don't protect clients against violence; guards and officers who play favorites or accept bribes; transgender people not being allowed into either men's or women's shelters; people in need refused services because they didn't suffer from mental illness or substance abuse, and more. The audience's ideas, performed onstage with the actors, ranged from jokes to defuse tension, to engaging legal support, to videotaping the violence, and many more. The discussion and analysis these ideas provoked among the homeless actors and the non-homeless and homeless audience members has been striking, and has inspired audience members to become volunteers for the troupe and for other homeless organizations, as well as inspiring the actors to try new tactics in the moments of conflict in their daily lives. We're looking forward to seeing how the impact grows over time.
Comments
This is a very cool project. Great job on getting it posted as the project of the day!!!!!
This is amazing!!! I think you guys are inspirational. :)