Community Arts

Artistic success was defined as our ability to touch the hearts of audiences through powerful performances, which we did. Our five actors and thirteen artists/production team members touched the hearts of audience members by bringing to life the heart-wrenching stories of the five main characters and the supporting characters. The intimate atmosphere and the fast-paced, emotional storytelling of the performance was a strength of our artistic process. Audiences were spellbound and shocked to learn that we have unseen youth experiencing homelessness and abuse right in our midst. Representatives from fifteen local nonprofits, whose work revolves around the issues of homeless youth, engaged actively with eager and interested audience members at the performances by providing resources and information, answering questions and participating in post-show talkback discussions. The nonprofit representatives validated to the audience the truth of the stories in the play and deepened audience members' understanding of the issues surrounding youth homelessness. We created further awareness through information and resources on our website and in the playbill, as well as through thought-provoking posts on our Facebook page. Comments received in person, on Facebook and in the 115 audience surveys we received were all positive. Many of the comments stated that the script was strong and well-crafted and that the actors' portrayals were powerful and accurate. We also received many comments of thanks to us for raising awareness of the homeless youth in our communities, as well as sentiments that more people should see the play. Some of the venues added their own initiatives, including a youth group attending the performance and sleeping outside in a tent city afterwards. Another venue collected donations ahead of time for the nonprofits attending their performance, which is an action step we could suggest to venues in future productions. Other audience members demonstrated their inspiration gained from the performance by donating to our nonprofit partners as well as to Chain Reaction Theatre Project in support of our work. In addition, we increased our "Likes" on Facebook by 83% over the run of the production, and we had 66 new requests to be on our mailing list. We repeatedly had requests to have performances in additional locations, including suggestions that we should perform in schools and colleges. With additional time, resources and cast/crew agreement, we could have implemented a longer performance run. We successfully met our intended community, and our outreach efforts resulted in community diversity. Our goal was to perform for at least 350 people in seven locations with an average of fifty people per show. We actually performed for 558 people in nine locations with an average of sixty-two people per show. Audience members were ages ten on up, (including a group of Girl Scouts and a youth group), and varied in gender, ethnicity and socio-economic status. At our performances, we had twenty representatives from fifteen nonprofits, varying in age, gender and ethnicity. Our five actors, two female and three male, ranged in age from 16-22, with ethnicities consisting of two European Americans, two African Americans and one Latino. Although our outreach efforts did result in community diversity, we were hopeful some of the homeless youth from the nonprofits we partnered with would have come. However, despite invitations and encouragement from nonprofit staff and Chain Reaction Theatre Project, none came. This was actually expected, given Chain Reaction Theatre Project's knowledge and experience about their precarious lives. All performances were financially accessible with a suggested ticket price of $15, pay as you are able. Our average ticket price paid was $12.82, with some audience members attending for free, and some choosing to show their support by paying $100. All venues were wheelchair accessible. Playbills were in larger print. We had one ASL and one audio described performance. Unfortunately, despite promotion in our publicity materials, on VSA's calendar and to Bread of Life Deaf Church, there were no audience members who needed either service. 115 audience members stated in audience surveys that after experiencing the powerful and emotional stories of homeless youth in our communities that were so accurately brought to life by the actors, as well as participating in talkback discussions with the nonprofit representatives, they feel inspired to take action in being part of the solution by volunteering or donating.