Everett Company has started the second year of a three-year research and creation process for the development of our new touring piece. Freedom Project will be a multi-disciplinary documentary theater production that shares the stories of people who have been marginalized by America’s criminal justice system. The project examines and critiques that system through the juxtapositions of personal stories with jarring statistics that reveal gross racial and socio-economic disparities in the way the law is applied, especially in regard to the War on Drugs. Everett approaches this challenging topic with humor and humanity, and emphasizes the creativity and spirit of perseverance that can surface when people confront extreme adversity. The work utilizes the disciplines of theater, dance and film making to draw out multiple perspectives on this complex topic. Visceral choreography and poetic visual imagery deepen the experience as Everett explores the effects of mass incarceration on some of our most vulnerable communities. Brown University is a development and producing partner in the creation of Freedom Project. They join Everett in producing a series of public workshops, forums, street actions, and in-progress previews that will continue to be held at both Brown and Everett Stage. These events draw a wide segment of the community into an ongoing dialogue about incarceration and help shape the final performance. Freedom Project will premiere in the spring of 2015 at Brown University’s Granoff Center for the Arts and will then be available for touring through 2017.
