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
![repair-cover](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair-cover.jpg)
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
![repair1](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair1.jpg)
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.
![](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair-sm.jpg)
Photo Credits Keith Forman
![repair2](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair2.jpg)
![repair3](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair3.jpg)
![repair4](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair4.jpg)
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.
![repair-group](https://2nd-street.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/repair-group.jpg)
Photo Credit Mark Gold