Cleveland Public Theatre (CPT) received $2,500 from Puffin Foundation West for the Y-Haven Theatre Project, a 21-year partnership between CPT and Y-Haven, a treatment center for formerly homeless men recovering from substance abuse disorder. Our goal is to help participants maintain sobriety and improve self-sufficiency. The men practice constructive behaviors through the process of creating and performing a play based on their own experiences
Over the course of four months, the men developed skills in theatre arts, while sharing and confronting their own life stories through role-playing and writing exercises. Program staff shaped the material that resulted from these exercises into an original play, which the men rehearsed, produced, and performed for audiences of other at-risk populations and students. In the process, the men learned that sharing their experiences impacts others and gives their lives new meaning. The cathartic and instructive process supported their recovery and fostered self-reflection and responsibility. Participants improved self-discipline and built workforce and teamwork skills. According to pre- and post-program evaluations, participants’ capacities increased in four main areas: Personal Skills, Interpersonal Skills, Arts/Education Skills, and
Workplace Skills. Remarkable areas of improvement included responsiveness, cooperation, commitment to the group, leadership, relationship with staff, writing interest, time management, and honesty/believability.
The 2019 Y-Haven Theatre Project production of Father’s Watch told the story of Junior Jones, a confident man preparing to leave home for an exciting new job. While packing his bags and helping his father move out, he discovers treasures and secrets that rapidly change who Junior believes himself to be. A blank space under the father’s name on his birth certificate throws Junior into a tailspin. Father’s Watch was a powerful original performance that dug into the makeup of identities and how secrets can shatter even the strongest bonds. The reach of the program expanded beyond the participants, as troubled and incarcerated youth, residents of public housing, and homeless men in treatment for substance abuse disorder attended performances and participated in instructor-facilitated post-show discussions with the cast.
