The DuPage Community Foundation Funds Unique Rehabilitative Program for Incarcerated Youth
Storycatchers Theatre received a grant from The DuPage Community Foundation's Community Needs Grant Program to support their "Fabulous Females" program for incarcerated girls at the Illinois Youth Center in Warrenville. Storycatchers uses creative nonfiction and theatre arts to conduct in-depth explorations of issues and challenges faced by incarcerated girls between the ages of 13 and 21.
Since 1984, Storycatchers has guided teens in youth prisons and under-resourced neighborhoods through the transformation of their personal stories into compelling musical theatre. The process helps these adolescents understand the power that their decisions have to shape their lives.
The program has been alive in Warrenville for a dozen years. The relationship that the company has forged at Warrenville has become the model for all Storycatchers' institutional
partnerships for programs with detained and incarcerated youth, according to Nancy McCarty, executive director of Storycatchers Theatre.
"The use of our processes help these young people begin to know recovery," said McCarty. "Participants work in tandem with therapists and counselors and when they're ready, they begin to use the arts and the processes to accomplish a lot of things. The process of theatre is by nature collaborative. Participants learn how to get along with one another, and to set long and short-term personal goals. They also realize that careful planning leads to success."
The writing process is reflective, according to McCarty. Participants get a chance to look at their lives and choices personally and many times come to a realization. "There's usually a point in someone's life when things change. Many of these incarcerated young women are victims of multiple complex traumas," she said.
All Storycatchers programs culminate with youth-created performances of original musical and dramatic material that reflect the unique experiences and perspectives of the participants. The opportunity to present their work to friends, family and community members is an important part of the Storycatchers process.
Another significant part of Storycatchers is Meade Palidofsky, one of its founders and artistic director. Palidofsky has always personally been concerned with social issues and it has become clear to her that playwriting is a good vehicle for promoting personal change.
"It's a great process for kids to reflect on their lives, said Palidofsky. "In theatre, anything can happen, so we're able to take a look at their choices and imagine other possibilities."
The therapeutic process occurs in cycles, from conception to performances. Over the years organizers have learned to give multiple opportunities and additional support to help participants complete each cycle successfully. An example of that support is the lead teaching artist who created a new system of personalized support consisting of visual and verbal cues to help a participant rein in her impulses before losing control. This additional attention was so effective that the participant not only completed a cycle successfully but she was able to fulfill her responsibility of playing the lead for all five performances of her show.
The program gets better and stronger every year, according to Palidofsky. "It can't be a secret that kids in prison are angry and depressed," she said. "They need a lot of emotional support and processing to accomplish the goals of the program. "
"The DuPage Community Foundation has been a great supporter of the company's programs for detained and incarcerated youth," said McCarty. "The Foundation has helped us to prepare young people to make thoughtful life choices through the process of writing, producing, and performing original musical theatre inspired by personal stories. It is not an exaggeration to say that we could not do it without them."
About Storycatchers Theatre:
The mission of Storycatchers Theatre is to prepare young people to make thoughtful life choices through the process of writing, producing, and performing original musical theatre inspired by personal stories. Storycatchers Theatre is based in Chicago. For more information, visit www.storycatcherstheatre.org.
About The DuPage Community Foundation:
The DuPage Community Foundation seeks to raise the quality of life throughout DuPage County by fostering philanthropy, connecting donors to area needs and building community partnerships. Based on the American virtues of volunteerism and philanthropy, the Foundation fosters a legacy of support for the people of DuPage County by making grants to not-for-profit organizations working in the areas of arts and culture, education, environment, health, and human
services. Since its inception, the Foundation has built its endowment to more than $60 million and
awarded more than $19 million in grants to not-for-profit agencies serving the residents of
DuPage County and beyond.
Established in 1986, The DuPage Community Foundation is a publicly-supported 501(c)(3) organization to which contributions are tax deductible. It was created to benefit the people of DuPage County and receives contributions and bequests into a permanent endowment from individuals, corporations, organizations and foundations wishing to make lasting contributions to the people of DuPage. The earnings on these funds are then used, in accordance with donor wishes, for the Foundation's grantmaking and community leadership activities.
For more information about the Foundation, or to arrange future media opportunities, please contact Joelyn Kott, marketing & communications officer, at (630) 665-5556, extension 19, or jkott@dcfdn.org.