Civic Ensemble's ReEntry Theatre Program Presents The We Are A Family Fundraiser

Civic Ensemble's ReEntry Theatre Program will be hosting an event to raise funds to continue providing opportunities to people who have been incarcerated to have their voices heard, share their experiences and raise public awareness through theatre. The event will take place in the Black Box Theatre of the Lehman Alternative Community School. Your ticket will get you a full meal and lots of fun from hearing about past work of the ReEntry Theatre Program, learning about projects for the future, and catching a sneak peak of the groups' play about mental health now in progress.

The ReEntry Theatre Program meets weekly at Tompkins County Day Reporting and is open to anyone who has experienced incarceration or court involvement. The process of making plays includes sharing stories, writing, improvising, and develop plays to share with the public.

The Program's most recent production, "Streets Like This," was created by over 100 people who came through the program in 2017-2018. "Streets Like This" not only exposes the struggles of those who experience incarceration, but gives voice directly to people who have had these experiences. A.C. Sidle, longtime member of the program and co-writer of the play says, "The process of sharing our stories, making decisions about the shape of the play, and rehearsing it for production has increased our confidence and power in educating our community about these issues."

The response to "Streets Like This" was overwhelmingly positive. Over 400 people saw the play, which was performed in several community spaces. Audiences included people involved in service agencies, medical professionals, and community supervision groups, as well as law enforcement. One employee of a service organization stated after one performance, "I had no idea what it was like for people. I learned so much tonight, and it's going to change how I do my job."

History of the ReEntry Theatre Program Civic Ensemble launched the ReEntry Theatre Program in 2015, gathering a group of individuals from Tompkins County who had experienced incarceration at any time in their lives. In the first two years, participants met with professional theatre artists to build theatre skills, build community, and collaborate to put their voices into a theatrical form. Over an 8-week course each year, participants wrote original plays and presented them for the public. From March 2017-March 2018, the group members created the original, full-length play "Streets Like This" and produced over four performances in May 2018.

Civic Ensemble is a non-profit theatre company serving Ithaca and Tompkins County that produces new plays by or about women and people of color, re-imaginings of classics, and community-based plays that explore and explode the social, political, and cultural issues of our time. Through the production of plays, after-school and in-school education programs for young people, and civic engagement programs with Ithaca community members, the company works to bring audiences of different races, classes, and experiences together in a public forum on the American experiment. Civic Ensemble is committed to employing Ithaca-based theatre artists whenever possible. It is our vision that theatre be accessible to all people, onstage and off. "Theatre is Everyone's Birthright."

Photo Credit: Charles Cadkin

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