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Piven Theatre Workshop has been enriching the lives of children and adults with its tradition of improvisation, theatre games, and story theatre for over forty years.
On behalf of Piven Theatre, we (Beth Voitik, Gillian Hemme, Mikalina Rabinsky, and Becky McNamara - four Piven teachers) are happy to say that we are currently developing a new program that will bring our work into the prison sphere in the Chicagoland area. We have been busily doing research and establishing contacts with the goal of teaching an ongoing class for incarcerated individuals looking for the enrichment and the real-life skill sets a theatre education provides.
We want to start with our Piven training as the foundation for this curriculum and then learn from others who have successfully brought arts education into a prison setting. We are very fortunate to have a relationship with The Actors’ Gang of LA, a fantastic theatre company that has been changing the lives of the incarcerated in California for the past decade. Their proven approach combines improvisation, writing, and Commedia dell’arte. (Learn more about their work here!)
Shira Piven and Donna Jo Thorndale, veteran teachers with The Actors’ Gang Prison Project, have traveled to Piven Theatre Workshop to instruct us in their approach to Commedia and to open up the dialogue about theatre in prison. After hearing their stories about the way Commedia impacts the lives of the inmates they teach – how the navigation of the four states of emotion (anger, fear, sadness, happiness) allows individuals to practice controlling and choosing their own emotions and the way men and women are able to tell their own painful or difficult stories more easily through the lens of Commedia’s stock characters – we are inspired to continue our own Commedia education so that we can enrich our prison curriculum with it.
Our crew of Piven teachers will be traveling to Los Angeles September 19th through the 23rd to train further in Commedia with The Actors’ Gang. We will also have a special opportunity to attend the final presentation of the Prison Project class at the California Institute for Women, where we will witness their work for ourselves.
Everyone at Piven Theatre Workshop is excited about and supportive of this latest extension of our work. Piven is in the process of securing grants that will ensure the longevity of the program and provide for teachers, transportation, and administrative work. In the meantime, we are working to get everything prepared for those classes to be successful. Part of that is this trip to LA.
That’s where you come in. Before we have grant money, we need your support to make this trip possible. Your donations will ensure that we will receive critical training that will best prepare us for our future prison work.
With airfare, onsite transportation, some lodging costs (we’ll be relying on our beautiful, fabulous, generous friends with couches for the most part – let us know if you have any beautiful, fabulous, generous friends in LA who also have couches!), and food for the four of us for five days and four nights, we’re estimating a conservative total of $2500.
Any contribution you are able to make to this cause will be greatly appreciated. We will be sharing our notes and pictures from the experience and will be sure to send updates about our journey. We will also be entering the names of all who donate into a drawing for two tickets to Piven Theatre Workshop’s upcoming production of Dead Man Walking (coming Spring 2016, directed by Mikalina!).
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for considering a donation.
In short:
What do you want me to do? Help sponsor a Piven teacher trip to LA to train in Commedia dell’arte and prison arts education techniques with The Actors’ Gang
When are you going? September 19-23
Why? Because arts education has been proven to be effective in empowering incarcerated individuals
Why else? Because The Actors’ Gang is ridiculously good at what they do, so good that Attorney General Eric Holder has commended them
Okay, why else should I give you money? Because we’re just getting this program started and are still securing grant money for it, so we need your donations to make this trip happen
How? Just click on this link and tell us how much you’re able to contribute at this time
What else can I do? Spread the word to your loved ones and share this link.
Anything else I should know? Just know that we greatly appreciate your support and that we welcome your questions and ideas.
On behalf of Piven Theatre, we (Beth Voitik, Gillian Hemme, Mikalina Rabinsky, and Becky McNamara - four Piven teachers) are happy to say that we are currently developing a new program that will bring our work into the prison sphere in the Chicagoland area. We have been busily doing research and establishing contacts with the goal of teaching an ongoing class for incarcerated individuals looking for the enrichment and the real-life skill sets a theatre education provides.
We want to start with our Piven training as the foundation for this curriculum and then learn from others who have successfully brought arts education into a prison setting. We are very fortunate to have a relationship with The Actors’ Gang of LA, a fantastic theatre company that has been changing the lives of the incarcerated in California for the past decade. Their proven approach combines improvisation, writing, and Commedia dell’arte. (Learn more about their work here!)
Shira Piven and Donna Jo Thorndale, veteran teachers with The Actors’ Gang Prison Project, have traveled to Piven Theatre Workshop to instruct us in their approach to Commedia and to open up the dialogue about theatre in prison. After hearing their stories about the way Commedia impacts the lives of the inmates they teach – how the navigation of the four states of emotion (anger, fear, sadness, happiness) allows individuals to practice controlling and choosing their own emotions and the way men and women are able to tell their own painful or difficult stories more easily through the lens of Commedia’s stock characters – we are inspired to continue our own Commedia education so that we can enrich our prison curriculum with it.
Our crew of Piven teachers will be traveling to Los Angeles September 19th through the 23rd to train further in Commedia with The Actors’ Gang. We will also have a special opportunity to attend the final presentation of the Prison Project class at the California Institute for Women, where we will witness their work for ourselves.
Everyone at Piven Theatre Workshop is excited about and supportive of this latest extension of our work. Piven is in the process of securing grants that will ensure the longevity of the program and provide for teachers, transportation, and administrative work. In the meantime, we are working to get everything prepared for those classes to be successful. Part of that is this trip to LA.
That’s where you come in. Before we have grant money, we need your support to make this trip possible. Your donations will ensure that we will receive critical training that will best prepare us for our future prison work.
With airfare, onsite transportation, some lodging costs (we’ll be relying on our beautiful, fabulous, generous friends with couches for the most part – let us know if you have any beautiful, fabulous, generous friends in LA who also have couches!), and food for the four of us for five days and four nights, we’re estimating a conservative total of $2500.
Any contribution you are able to make to this cause will be greatly appreciated. We will be sharing our notes and pictures from the experience and will be sure to send updates about our journey. We will also be entering the names of all who donate into a drawing for two tickets to Piven Theatre Workshop’s upcoming production of Dead Man Walking (coming Spring 2016, directed by Mikalina!).
Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for considering a donation.
In short:
What do you want me to do? Help sponsor a Piven teacher trip to LA to train in Commedia dell’arte and prison arts education techniques with The Actors’ Gang
When are you going? September 19-23
Why? Because arts education has been proven to be effective in empowering incarcerated individuals
Why else? Because The Actors’ Gang is ridiculously good at what they do, so good that Attorney General Eric Holder has commended them
Okay, why else should I give you money? Because we’re just getting this program started and are still securing grant money for it, so we need your donations to make this trip happen
How? Just click on this link and tell us how much you’re able to contribute at this time
What else can I do? Spread the word to your loved ones and share this link.
Anything else I should know? Just know that we greatly appreciate your support and that we welcome your questions and ideas.