STORYCATCHERS THEATRE
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Mission Statement
Storycatchers Theatre guides young people to transform their traumatic experiences into powerful musical theatre, inspiring them to develop the courage and vision to become leaders and mentors. By creating support for youth within the criminal justice system, Storycatchers prepares them to change their lives and emerge successfully from court involvement.
About This Cause
Founded in 1984, Storycatchers uses its award-winning methodology to guide youth to write their own life stories and turn those into musical theatre, all while developing social and emotional skills to successfully recognize and make productive choices as they transition beyond their experiences within the justice system. Storycatchers conducts the following programs for justice-involved youth in Illinois: RESIDENTIAL YEAR-ROUND PROGRAMS All residential programs – at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center, the Illinois Youth Center (IYC)-Warrenville, and IYC-Chicago – engage youth residents in our methodology and curriculum of writing, developing, and performing in original musicals based on personal stories. Each program culminates in the production of original scenes and songs developed over a 12-month period. Outcomes for youth include but are not limited to: 1. Learning the value of commitment 2. Realizing the ability to connect emotions to actions 3. Developing the courage to reveal their authentic selves 4. Creating a shared experience between youth and the community 5. Creating positive change within the justice system POST-RELEASE EMPLOYMENT Changing Voices (CV) is a performing arts employment program for young people, ages 17-24, who have been recently released from arrest, detention, or incarceration; are on probation; or are enrolled in community-based alternatives to incarceration. The program employs groups of up to 21 young people for 30 hours/week for eight months. Participants write personal stories about their lives and develop these stories into original scenes and songs that they tour to schools, juvenile justice facilities, community partner sites, and other venues. Youth learn to lead audiences in post-show engagement that deepens the performance impact and positions these justice-involved youth as peer mentors and leaders of civic dialogue. Additionally, CV employs a full-time Case Manager who works with each participant to develop an individualized plan for long-term post-release success, and incorporates social/emotional learning and job skills training into its performing arts curriculum. CONTINUATION DURING COVID-19 CRISIS Despite limitations caused by the statewide shutdown, since mid-March of 2020, Storycatchers has continued all programs in modified form through video calls, free communication apps, and other forms of electronic interaction. From the beginning of the statewide shutdown, Storycatchers benefited from unwavering support and cooperation from partners within the juvenile justice system. This ongoing advocacy and cooperation have been essential to the company’s ability to deliver consistent programming throughout this crisis. In response to disruptions and limitations caused by COVID-19, Storycatchers has expanded the modes of artistic expression through which the company engages youth. In addition to scenes and songs, youth produce podcasts, spoken word, movement pieces, and visual art. All of this amplifies their voices and empowers them to share their stories. POPULATION SERVED Storycatchers designed its award-winning program model to meet the specific needs of justice-involved young people, which are frequently misunderstood, and typically underserved. This population is disproportionately Black, Hispanic, and Latinx, impoverished, and from underfunded schools and under-resourced neighborhoods. Sources such as the Traumatic Stress Institute and the Northwestern Juvenile Project state that over 92% of youth in the juvenile justice system have histories that include exposure to trauma and abuse. This trauma is then compounded by the experience of incarceration that can rob adolescents of their still evolving sense of dignity, autonomy, and selfhood. According to psychiatrist Judy Herman, a pioneer in the understanding and treatment of complex trauma, “sharing the (traumatic) experience with others is a precondition for the restitution of a meaningful world. Restoration of the breach between the traumatized person and the community depends, first, upon a public acknowledgment of the traumatic event and second, upon some form of community action.” Through participation in Storycatchers’ programs, justice-involved adolescents and emerging adults can share their experiences without shame and receive public recognition of their struggles. COMMUNITY IMPACT Storycatchers leverages our public performances to promote individualized and humane treatment of juveniles and young adults by the justice system. The company creates opportunities for judges, legislators, police officers, corrections staff, and others to see these youth not merely as the sum of prior bad acts, but as young people with untapped future potential. Storycatchers youth have performed in chambers for the State Supreme Court in Springfield, at training sessions for Cook County Juvenile Court justices, and at events such as the 2018 Kennedy Forum. A key element of the Storycatchers approach is to prepare and empower justice-involved young people to take control of the public narrative about them and represent their needs from a platform built on personal experience. RECOGNITION Storycatchers has achieved local, state, and national recognition, with profiles on National Public Radio, in the Chicago Tribune and other local media, and in documentaries and academic studies. The company was honored by the White House in 2013, with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Founder and former Artistic Director Meade Palidofsky received a 2016 Schweitzer Leadership Award, which annually recognizes an individual who has done significant work to mitigate the social determinants of health in their community. Storycatchers’ Changing Voices program became one of the first winners of the Chicago Beyond GO Innovate Award for early-stage ideas that offer innovative programming to reengage youth in work and education. Storycatchers has also been recognized with awards from the Art for Justice Fund, a national initiative dedicated to using the arts for prison reform. In the summer of 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker formally recognized the Storycatchers methodology as a reference point for the community-based care the state is working towards with its juvenile justice transformation plans.