Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project
Developing and presenting the stories of those impacted by incarceration and the justice system
Directed and produced by Mark Kenward, with co-direction by Rebecca Fisher, Wayne Harris and Mark McGoldrick, FIPPP features formerly incarcerated performers telling stories about their life experiences. FIPPP held our first festival with performers Tony Cyprien, Freddy Lee Johnson, Pamela Anne Keane, Pearl Louise, Pastor Ronnie Muniz and Al Sasser at PianoFight Oakland in October 2021. We held a Summer Workshop Performance series in May 2022 with Freddy Lee Johnson, Pamela Ann Keane, Pearl Louise and new FIPPP performer, Scott Schell, on stage. And we'll be back this fall for a special night of performances with our full festival back at PianoFight Oakland in January 2023! Stay tuned!
Hearing stories from those who have been incarcerated fosters compassion and understanding about the circumstances and choices that led them to incarceration, what they endured and learned inside, and the hard won success of their lives after incarceration. Their stories give hope for the human condition and our ability to reform and reinvent ourselves, as well as giving us the opportunity as a society to reconsider the inhumane conditions that prisoners often endure. Each of them brings to this project previous experience as a performer, writer, and/or public speaker, in addition to their inspiring work of now helping others deal with issues of reentry, substance abuse, housing and homelessness.
This project is funded in part by a Theater Bay Area CA$H grant, the Ronald Whittier Family Foundation and donors who enjoy the work.
Hearing stories from those who have been incarcerated fosters compassion and understanding about the circumstances and choices that led them to incarceration, what they endured and learned inside, and the hard won success of their lives after incarceration. Their stories give hope for the human condition and our ability to reform and reinvent ourselves, as well as giving us the opportunity as a society to reconsider the inhumane conditions that prisoners often endure. Each of them brings to this project previous experience as a performer, writer, and/or public speaker, in addition to their inspiring work of now helping others deal with issues of reentry, substance abuse, housing and homelessness.
This project is funded in part by a Theater Bay Area CA$H grant, the Ronald Whittier Family Foundation and donors who enjoy the work.
"It takes courage and resilience to not only endure, what each of them has gone through, to make profound changes in their lives, and then to find meaningful work where they are making a difference in other people’s lives. But also to now step out on stage and tell their individual, unique stories." - Mark Kenward
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