Arts Access

zAmya Theater provided twenty-four participatory theater workshops for 32 people experiencing homelessness that culminated in nine public performances. Workshop participants from many ethnic backgrounds completed surveys at the close of the theater workshops, which asked how the participant heard about the workshop as well as age, gender, where they were staying, the most enjoyable part of the workshop and what other artistic activities they would like to pursue. The results demonstrated that participants welcomed the diversion (theater workshops) from the stress of their daily lives and the opportunity to have fun and learn new skills. 2: zAmya Theater removed barriers to the theater arts for 32 people experiencing homelessness and hundreds of low-income or homeless audience members. We tracked the number of workshop attendees, zAmya Theater performances and tickets, and audience totals at each venue. We reached a broad and diverse audience of over 1,000 people. Without the theater workshops and performances, people experiencing homelessness would never have benefitted from acting for the first time or from the joy of seeing live theater. One workshop participant ended up joining the zAmya troupe.