Formerly Incarcerated People’s ​Performance Project

Developing and presenting the stories of those impacted by incarceration and the justice system
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​Performers

​Al Sasser

​Born in South-Central Los Angeles, Al became involved in a subculture of gangs and criminality at age 13, which led to juvenile hall and eventually prison.  At 19 years old he was sentenced to 15 years to life.  His turning point came in 1989, when he was encouraged to enroll in school while in prison.  He earned his high school diploma and an A.A. degree in Liberal Arts, and started to write poetry and short stories.  He also became a certified paralegal and substance abuse counselor.  In 2013 Al left Solano State Prison after serving 31 years.   He now works as a case manager and advocate for the homeless in West Oakland.  “I’m proud to be working to address the treatment needs of those who suffer from substance use disorder and mental health issues.”  Al is very active with Roots & Rebound, an organization working to empower those impacted by the criminal justice system.  He’s writing his first book, Suitable Placement, and is launching a t-shirt business called TeeVoices to employ formerly incarcerated people. He is currently a student at San Francisco State with a major in psychology and a minor in criminal justice.  

   Algiin Ford

     Algiin Ford is a Bay Area-based writer and actor with more than 20 years of stage and screen
     experience.  Algiin’s wide-ranging theater credits include classics like Skin Of Our   
     Teeth and Fences as well as experimental plays and his own original works.

     He is currently performing his own I Want to Know the Mind of God— a personal reflection of early
     childhood and a complicated relationship with the church and Behold, I Make All Things New — the
     inspiring story of his journey to sobriety. Algiin recently hopped on stage at the world-famous
     Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City to perform an original piece.
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     Additionally, Algiin has been cast in drama series "Queen Sugar" and "Underground", and the
     Academy Award-winning film, What Dreams May Come.
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     With over 20 years of experience as a yoga instructor and wellness professional, Algiin brings a
​     unique physicality and performance to all of his work. 

   Anthony Michael Jefferson "AJ"

        "AJ" is from Hermosa Beach CA. "I am a waterman since the tender age of two, (swimming,
        diving, surfing, sailing, and fishing. )" Le Cordon Bleu graduate. Executive Chef/ owner of         
        Renegade Catering and private Chef. Budding storyteller and actor. ​

Freddy Lee Johnson

​Music has always been important to Fred – ever since he walked by a pawnshop at age 15, saw a beat-up trumpet in the window, and knew he had to have it.  Sentenced to prison at age 18, a turning point for Fred was joining the San Quentin Stage Band, where he had the opportunity to play with a diverse ensemble and share the stage with legends such as Ella Fitzgerald and Sheila E.  When Fred was paroled in 1995 he became involved with Harm Reduction Coalition, a national organization that promotes the health and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by drug use.  Eventually, he became their director of policy, in which role he traveled the world—including testifying before the US Congress twice—to advocate for needle exchanges and HIV awareness.  He also served as executive director of harm reduction programs in New York and Atlanta.  Since retiring, he has focused on his music, as well as acting in the two-person play Solitary Man based on letters from solitary confinement.  “Hearing the voices of formerly incarcerated individuals is a must. The overall impact will continue to chip away at the inhumane injustices of the incarcerated and broader community. It is time, and society as a whole benefits.”

​Pamela Ann Keane

​Pamela was born in Hollywood, California, and true to her native city she began performing early – at age 5 she was casting herself and friends in plays performed for their families.  As a young adult she worked at a comedy club as emcee and DJ, during which time she studied acting at The Little Playhouse in Walnut Creek, California.  Over time she struggled with substance abuse and mental illness, ending up homeless and involved in criminal activity.  She served 4 years at the Decatur Correctional Facility in Illinois, where she took part in the Shakespeare Corrected program.  This reignited her theatrical spirit.  “I absolutely loved everything about it.  I was transformed. I found my voice and became comfortable in my own skin.” Paroled back to California, Pamela has connected with Marin Shakespeare, where she performs with the Returned Citizens Theater Troupe and the Returned Citizens Improv Troupe.  Pamela works as assistant house manager at Women On The Way, a transitional sober living environment, where she counsels and supports women in recovery and on parole.  She is currently a student at Merritt College, pursuing a substance abuse counseling license and associates degree.  

​Pastor Ronnie Muniz

​A recognized leader in faith-based supportive services, Pastor Ronnie Muniz has worked tirelessly to help the homeless, youth and formerly incarcerated people of San Francisco.  Since his release from prison in 1989 he has worked with a number of high profile organizations as a gang prevention coordinator and youth advocate, with  focus on overcoming criminal and addictive thinking, anger management, life skills and relapse prevention. He is the founder and CEO of Saved by Grace Re-Entry Ministries, which helps formerly incarcerated youth and adults with services for employment, education, housing and recovery.  As an ex-felon, former gang member, and former drug dealer, Ronnie knows what it takes to turn a life around.  “Throughout my life I have made some good and bad decisions, but through it all I truly believe God had, and still has, His hand on my life.”  Although More Than That marks his first time appearing on stage, he brings to this project extensive public speaking experience as a preacher, facilitator, and educator.  He is celebrating the recent publication (2020) of his life story, I was lost as a man and found by the Son of man, Jesus.  

Pearl Louise

​Pearl is very happy and excited to be a part of this performance group and to share a different perspective on incarceration: that of the Families That Are Left Behind.

When Pearl’s teenage son was convicted and sentenced to serve 10 years in the California prison system, Pearl was thrown into the system too. 

Pearl asks how many stories are told of those left behind: the wives, girlfriends, husbands, Baby Mamas, grandparents, children, significant others, parents, siblings? What about the stories of shame, abandonment, loss of income, losing homes, paying bail, stigma, police invasion, wire tapping, attorney fees, loss of communication, violence, visitations and stress? Because when your children go to jail – The Whole Family Does Time! Can a family hang together through the passing of years? When your child is released, do they have a home to which to return? Will you let a parolee live in your home? Will a former inmate be able to really handle their child who is no longer five month old, but 10 years old? And so on….

Pearl hopes that through her performance with the other mothers, they can all reach you to share their own experience in the American Penal system.

Precious Hicks

Precious is a life and wellness coach and mental health advocate. Born and raised in San Francisco she grew up in the Bay View witnessing what community looked like and cherishing the possibilities it provided. Unfortunately, she found herself in an abusive relationship that led her to incarceration after a failed attempt at leaving. While incarcerated she discovered that many people had trauma way before prison which led her to create her wellness business A Pocket of Sunshine. Now she has helped hundreds of people in their journey to heal and destress, including incarcerated women. She is now working on a community of healing and wellness. 

Randy Carter

“The personal motto that I live by is to live my life to the fullest every day and, also, to remain mindful that I am not a prisoner of my past. It was a lesson and not a life sentence. I believe in redemption.”

Randy Carter has worked as a mentor and a counselor and currently is a Certified Substance Abuse Counselor, with approximately 8 years of experience administering substance abuse treatment curriculum in addition to facilitating criminal offender self help groups; Alcoholics and Narcotics Anonymous, Anger Management, Denial Management and Domestic Violence and Relapse Prevention groups.

He grew up in Oakland, arriving in the Bay Area at the tender age of three. His family roots are in Louisiana; Randy is the fifth of six children, with three sisters and two brothers completing the family of eight. In his spare time, Randy relishes being in nature and his favorite childhood hang out, Oakland's Lake Merritt, collecting cars, traveling, watching sports (49ers!) and spending quality time with family and friends.

Randy became a FIPPP Fellow in 2022. Randy is a producer of and featured in The 50, a feature-length documentary by Brenton Gieser that follows the lived experiences of 50 incarcerated men serving life or long term sentences in California, and their journeys to become certified drug and alcohol counselors in a first-of-its-kind program at Solano State Prison. Randy is available for public speaking engagements. Learn more about The 50 at: www.the50film.com

Scott Schell

Scott was born in Nantucket Massachusetts. He got involved in drug use at a young age. In 1997 he moved to San Francisco in part, as in recovery circles, what is referred to as a geographic. He got even deeper in his addiction and was arrested in 1998 for Grand Theft. He was housed in the San Francisco Sheriff’s Dept. Resolve to Stop the Violence Project or RSVP. It was there that his journey of recovery and redemption began. Upon release he was admitted to a residential treatment program, relapsing after 2 months violating probation he was sent to prison. He paroled in January 2000 and went back into treatment and became an intern with the Sheriff’s Dept. He trained as a violence intervention and prevention facilitator. After a year he was promoted to the RSVP Site Coordinator at the Sheriff’s Dept. Post Release Facility a position he still holds to this day. In 2018 Scott accepted the RSVP Program Manager Position. He has a unique lived experience and his dedication to this very important work exemplifies his investment in the betterment of our communities. He is very excited to be joining FIPPP. He believes shedding light on the stories of formerly incarcerated individuals is a must. These stories need to be told. He believes the stigma attached to formerly incarcerated people is unfair and takes away their humanity. The narrative needs to change.

​Tony Cyprien

​Tony was born and raised in Watts, California, by his loving mother and grandmother – and neighborhood gang members.  He soon was in juvenile hall and the California Youth Authority.  His mother died suddenly and Tony returned home to find strangers living in his house.  Months later, at age 17, he was sentenced to San Quentin.  In prison he learned to weld, and 26 years and 8 days later, paroled to Berkeley, he got a job he loves assembling robotic arms used in medicine.  He has also discovered improv and storytelling.  He won the very first Moth StorySLAM that he entered, and has been featured at two Moth Mainstage events, as well as two broadcasts on NPR.  He has performed solo pieces at The Marsh, StageWerx, and Shotgun Players.  He joined the Marin Shakespeare Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe, for which he is now program manager.  Marin Shakes lets him fulfill one of his dreams – to go back into prison and juvenile hall to talk to thousands of those like himself and tell them “Man, I got a do over. I’m here to tell you what things will look life if you don’t stop!”  

Tylon

Why do you do what you do? As a formerly incarcerated woman from the Bay Area; a willing participant in the destruction of our communities (late 80’s early 90’s); a survivor of domestic violence; a survivor of alcohol/drug abuse; a survivor of the California Correctional Prison system; I now know and have been given knowledge and resources to no longer live a life of destruction. It is only right to pay it forward and be a participant in the healing process of our communities.
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As an Intensive Case Manager for our Young Men’s Reentry program my goal is to individually assess, plan, implement, evaluate options and resources, coordinate, monitor, advocate, assist and encourage our clients into achieving and maintaining a different quality of life through developing goals, enhancing life skills, addressing health and mental health needs, engaging in groups and other meaningful activities, and building social and community relations.
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When I’m not at CW, I am being a foodie and enjoying really good delicious food from other cultures, or on a stage doing Stand-up Comedy; or somewhere exercising via a dancefloor and good music. I also love to volunteer at Juvenile Hall speaking with our youth.​

​​Directors

​Mark Kenward

​Mark Kenward, a Marsh All-Star performer and two-time selection for the Best of San Francisco Solo Series, has performed his work in over 40 cities throughout the US and Canada, including a reception for The House of Representatives and several runs at The Marsh.  He is the creator and performer of eight solo shows, receiving kudos as “a commanding storyteller” and “a master of the craft”. Kenward is the director of over 35 full-length solo shows, including several that have won “Best of Fringe” honors and ten that have had runs at The Marsh.  In 2018 he was the director of two solo shows nominated for the TBA award for Outstanding Solo Performance: Steve Budd’s What They Said About Love, and Jill Vice’s A Fatal Step.  For more information about Mark, including other projects that he has directed, please visit markkenward.com

Mark McGoldrick

Mark McGoldrick recently retired as an Assistant Public Defender for Alameda County where he defended people in the criminal courts for 27 years. 

McGoldrick started performing publicly in the early 2000s with A Public Defense, a collection of short spoken-word pieces about the people who populate the world of indigent criminal defense.  His first full-length show was The Golden Hammer which made its first appearance at The Marsh San Francisco in 2005, and reprised at The Berkeley Marsh in 2016.  The Golden Hammer was followed with another critically acclaimed show, Countercoup in 2007.  Countercoup was reprised in a four-part live-online version in 2021.

Mark is excited to be working with FIPPP bringing together two of his passions:  solo performance and criminal justice advocacy. Mark is also FIPPP's Director of Outreach, establishing partnerships and working with FIPPP Fellows on year-round performance opportunities. 

​Rebecca Fisher

​Rebecca Fisher has directed critically acclaimed shows in national and international fringe festivals, regional theaters, as well as several full-length runs at The Marsh.  Rebecca is s co-producer of the monthly storytelling series Tell it on Tuesday soon to celebrate 18 years. She began her solo works as a writer and performer in a David Ford class at The Marsh in 2005.  Her first show The Magnificence of the Disaster was described as “smart, challenging, and unmistakably affecting”  by the SF Chronicle and her second piece Memphis on my Mind won a San Francisco Best of Fringe award. Before working in the solo world, she directed many youth theater camps with Julia Morgan Center for the Arts and The Marsh Youth Theater.  When she isn’t involved in solo work, Rebecca is a paraeducator at Wildwood Elementary and involved in family life with her husband and two middle school sons. 

Operations

​Wayne Harris

Wayne Harris is an award winning solo performer, writer, educator, curriculum innovator and musician. A gifted artist with wide ranging interests, he has accumulated an impressive body of work over the years that includes 5 full length plays, presentations for schools, directing and designing for pageantry groups as well as various musical projects. Wayne is currently the Director of the Marsh Youth Theater in San Francisco, CA and a Resident Teaching Artist for StageBridge (An intergenerational theater) in Oakland, CA. Wayne has coached and consulted with some of the country’s finest pageantry groups, including the world champion Santa Clara Vanguard Drum and Bugle Corps, as well as with many other world class pageantry groups throughout the nation. For more information on Wayne Harris, his work and performances, please visit waynethestoryteller.com

Michelle Mitchell

Michelle has been a nonprofit director and event producer in the Bay Area for more than 25 years. She is a writer (and ghostwriter) with a background in dramaturgy and the arts and has worked with Bay Area organizations such SFSketchfest; Speechless, Inc.; the California College of the Arts; the Z Space Studio; the Craftsmanship Initiative, and now FIPPP.  Michelle has focused on supporting organizations that are making our big blue marble in space a little bit better, smarter, or funnier. And she's pleased to help FIPPP grow as the Director of Ops, Communications, and Development. You can learn more about her meeting Roald Dahl, her accidental start as a ghostwriter, and silly side hustles at: michelleomirth.com