REPAIR

“It’s like coming back from a physical injury.  If you break your leg, there’s the active time when your bone is setting and healing – and then there’s physical rehabilitation:  rebuilding the muscles and strength,  Learning to walk again.  At a certain point you are essentially repaired.  Like you can run again.  But you’re never gonna be quite the same.  Your walk’s always gonna be a little bit different.”

2nd  Street Participant

An original work-in-process theater piece commissioned and developed in partnership with Second Street Second Chances, Inc.

INSPIRED BY THE WORDS AND STORIES OF

Michael Cooper, Steven Dudley, Davon Kelly, Brian Long,
Daniel Lowenstein, John Ostiguy, and Garry Wade

PERFORMED AND DEVELOPED IN COLLABORATION WITH

Max Conaway, John Moreno, Marcus Neverson
Ahmed Reda, and Tom Truss

CREATED & DIRECTED BY

Amy Brentano and Sara Katzoff

Lighting Design: Tim Cryan
Projection Design: Joe Wheaton
Sound Design: Peter Wise
Stage Managed: Luna Hayes
Technical Direction: Alzie Mercado
Fight Choreographer: Laura Standley

Photo Credit Keith Forman

With Gratitude

2nd Street acknowledges with gratitude the financial and in-kind support of this project provided by:

  • Berkshire Community College
  • Berkshire Bank
  • Feigenbaum Foundation
  • Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation’s Arts Build Community initiative with funding from the Barr Foundation
  • James and Irene Hunter Family Fund
  • First Avenue Fund
  • St. John’s Episcopal Church of Williamstown
  • The Foundry, West Stockbridge, MA

For additional information on REPAIR, contact

Sara Katzoff
Co-Facilitator
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://sarakatzoff.com

Amy Brentano
Co-Facilitator
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://thefoundryws.com

Mark Gold
President, Second Street Second Chances, Inc.
Email: [email protected]
Website: http://2nd-Street.org

 

About REPAIR

REPAIR is a collaboratively created and devised piece of theater built from the stories of formerly incarcerated men who are clients of Second Street Second Chances residing in Berkshire County. Through their non- linear journeys of navigating incarceration, trauma, survival and healing, REPAIR humanizes and amplifies their voices by using verbatim text from in-person interviews May through June of 2024, movement, sound, music and video projection. This multidisciplinary performance strives to challenge assumptions about these men and amplify their humanity.

Through a collaboration between co-creators and directors Amy Brentano and Sara Katzoff, an intergenerational ensemble of five diverse actors ranging in ages from 27-63, light, sound and projection designers, a fight choreographer and seven Second Street clients, REPAIR shares specific stories finding common experiences among them. The piece was elevated by having the benefit of the collaboration with professional designers and production staff in addition to the production value offered by the Boland Theatre at Berkshire Community College.

The culminating performance educated the public on issues of incarceration and re-entry in a highly personal way, uprooting stereotypes about this population. Equally significant is the empowerment the formerly incarcerated men voiced after witnessing their own voices and narratives reflected back to them.

Photo Credits Keith Forman

“It was the single most moving and impactful theatrical performance I have seen. Thank you, thank you to Second Street and their clients as well as the theatrical team. Sharing the stories has dominated all my conversations thus far today and I am so grateful to be a very small part of making such profound work like this possible.”

“I honor the space which you created for the formerly incarcerated to tell, hear and see their stories, for the actors to embody them and for the audience to witness. Thank you for immersing yourselves in their stories to in turn bring them to a wider audience.”

“The process of making [their stories] legible and adhering to the audience in a way that’s earnest and thought-provoking has brought me into a profound place as an actor that I’ve never experienced before. As a person, this project has left me humbled and filled with gratitude. The experience of feeling so connected with the people who are going through the most grueling times in one’s life has made me a better person, more empathetic, understanding, and happy.”

“It’s really important for the public to realize that they did their punishment and now they don’t need your scorn on top of that.”

“I want to thank everyone who came out to hear my story. It was so easy for us to share our stories with Amy and Sara because they were so loving and kind and they treated us with much respect. They listened to us. They didn’t treat us as anything other than what we are. We’re men who are worthy of love and respect, and we treat people with respect. We are good men. It’s a blessing to be here.”

Please note that characterizations of the conditions of incarceration are not reflective of conditions at the Berkshire County Jail and House of Correction. 

PERFORMANCE PROGRAM 


(click to open the full program)

Rehearsal & Development Process

The rehearsal/development process as a team ran for three weeks in residency at The Foundry, a multidisciplinary performing arts venue in West Stockbridge, MA. During this time the actors and clients had the opportunity to meet with each other over a meal and informal gathering. Both actors and clients expressed gratitude for the gathering where they were surprised and moved by discovering experiences, wants, needs and humor in common. The piece currently runs approximately 60 minutes and has received positive feedback from the collaborative clients, audience members from the Second Street community and the Berkshire community at large.

Photo Credit Mark Gold

Press

Berkshire Eagle

https://www.berkshireeagle.com/news/local/repair-theater-piece-2ndstreet/article_fbf7e352-5413-11ef-860a-a79187a1219b.html