Reentry Through the Arts

A Man Like Me

Funded by California Arts Council Reentry Through the Arts Grant (2017 – present)

The Project

Moving Forward – 2017 to present

A Man Like Me

Bi-monthly theatre, movement, and writing workshops serving the formerly incarcerated and those on work release in partnership with Friends Outside in Los Angeles County’s Dads Back! Academy. An extended series of Saturday workshops culminated in the creation and performance of three participant-generated plays.

The workshops gave the participants an opportunity to examine, express and redefine their life stories through a creative process.

Composed by Bonnie Banfield, based on the participants’ writing

Playwright

Alexa Kershner and Susan Franklin Tanner

Director

Susan Franklin Tanner

Producer

Dads Back! Academy Clients

Participants

John Polite, Rubén Guevara

Professional Actor(s)

Susan Franklin Tanner, Rubén Guevara, Alexa Kershner, Jim Macdonald, Marlene McCurtis

Teaching Artist(s)

PERFORMANCES

Venue(s)
Ensemble Studio Theatre/LA, 24th Street Theater, Los Angeles High School, and various others

“The theater program has helped me to break down the walls that I had put up myself as a means of self-preservation. The writing exercises forced me to dig deep within myself to express thoughts I thought I had long ago walked away from…it’s been therapeutic…to be able to open up, express myself, and do it in a way that’s seen as artistic.”

— Derrick, 2019

MEDIA

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