PPA ADULT PROGRAMS
PPA’s adult programs include workshops in acting, creative writing, voice, movement, playwriting, poetry, and literature analysis. Through this multi-disciplinary approach, system-impacted artists learn creative and constructive ways to positively express emotions, build trust, and work collaboratively. The program is designed to help participants improve communication skills, instill responsibility to self and others, and identify healthy strategies for processing complex trauma.
ADULT PROGRAMS
THE THEATRE PROJECTS
The Theatre Projects are long-term projects consisting of workshops, rehearsals, and live performances of classic, contemporary, and original plays at three Missouri Department of Corrections prisons. Each project involves fifteen to twenty-five residents as performers, designers, and technicians. The Theatre Projects performs each year for audiences of prison inmates and staff, families, and the public.
SPOKEN WORD POETRY
Spoken Word Poetry is an on-going workshop for system-impacted adults in three Missouri Department of Corrections prisons who love to write or who have always been hesitant about writing. Together with a professional teaching artist, each class explores poetry, playwriting, and short story literature, as a doorway to self-expression and personal writing. The writers often read their original work for an audience of fellow residents and community members - which include poetry, songs, and monologues.
OUR HISTORY
In 2001, system-impacted actors took the “stage” with PPA for the first time, with a production of Hamlet, Act I at Missouri Eastern Correctional Center. Since then, PPA has produced 75 productions in three state prisons. Hundreds of system-impacted artists have participated in these performances, which include Shakespearean classics, contemporary plays, and new works developed by nationally-recognized playwrights.