{"id":36198,"date":"2017-12-23T15:00:42","date_gmt":"2017-12-23T20:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=36198"},"modified":"2018-04-03T08:28:28","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T12:28:28","slug":"inside-playback-theater-group-awarded-catalyst-initiative-justpax-grants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2017\/inside-playback-theater-group-awarded-catalyst-initiative-justpax-grants\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Out playback theater group awarded Catalyst Initiative, Justpax grants"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Inside Out<\/a> playback theater group is the recent recipient of two grants to expand their work with racial healing and marginalized populations. [Editor’s note 4\/3\/2018:<\/em> Inside Out was awarded a spring 2018 Advancing the Arts grant by Arts Council of the Valley for “Story-gathering with our neighbors, stories in three mediums.”<\/em>]<\/p>\n

The six-year-old troupe, co-founded by theater professor Heidi Winters Vogel<\/a> and applied social sciences adjunct professor Roger Foster<\/a>, includes current undergraduate and graduate students and alumni. It specializes in improvisational theater that includes the audience and actors in storytelling sessions, \u201cplayed back\u201d through action, dialogue and music, that encourage connections and conversation about difficult social issues and challenges. Inside Out has engaged with students returning from study abroad experiences, international peacebuilders<\/a>, descendants of slaves and slaveholders, sexual abuse survivors, ex-offenders and migrant workers, among others.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Heidi Winters Vogel (back row, left) with Father Daniel Robayo (standing, second from left) and other Catalyst Initiative grant project leaders at a December planning session in Phoenix, Arizona. (Courtesy photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Catalyst Initiative<\/a> grant, funded by the Phoenix, Arizona-based Center for Performance and Civic Practice<\/a> (CPCP), provides mentorship and guidance as Inside Out develops a partnership with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia to confront issues of race, immigration and reconciliation in communities around the state.<\/p>\n

A grant from the donor-advised\u00a0JustPax Fund<\/a> will fund engagement with the Shenandoah Valley\u2019s Hispanic and Haitian migrant workers, building on previous work on the Eastern Shore with similar populations. The grant also provides funds to develop and disseminate a \u201ctoolkit\u201d for participatory arts organizations around the country to engage in similar partnerships.<\/p>\n

Both grants will enable Inside Out members with unique opportunities to interact with well-known and inspiring mentors in the field: Hannah Fox, program director of the Centre for Playback Theatre<\/a>, and Michael Rohd, founding executive director of the Center for Performance and Civic Practice.<\/p>\n