For 16 years the Cleveland Public Theatre has partnered with the Y-Haven, a treatment center for formerly homeless men recovering from addiction to create the Y-Haven Theatre Project: Arts Education for Homeless Men. Their goal has always been to help participants maintain sobriety and improve self-sufficiency. Over the course of four months the men who are involved in the process of creating and performing a play based upon their own experiences develop skills in theatre arts, while sharing and confronting their own life stories through role-playing and writing exercises. Cleveland Public Theatre staff members shape the material that result from these exercises into an original play, which the men rehearse, produce and then perform eleven times during a two-week tour of their play for audiences of other at risk populations, students and the general public. This is a rigorous program that includes five-days a week of five-hour technical rehearsals which incorporate costuming, lighting, sound, and set pieces. They learn the value of consistent work including doing the physical work of packing and unloading the tour truck. The men successful learn how to adapt to changing circumstances while maintaining discipline, resilience and commitment to the production. These performances have attracted over 1,150 audience members in any given year. There are also talkback sessions following each performance. PFW is proud to be a continuing sponsor of this program as it speaks out loud about our Mission.
