The University of Puget Sound will host a powerful residency with New York’s Reentry Theater of Harlem (RTH), bringing its innovative, arts-based approach to justice and rehabilitation to campus from Oct. 20 to Nov. 17. The visit, featuring RTH founder Alex Anderson and assistant art director Rory Anderson and Arts educator Charanya Ramakrishnan, is a major initiative of the university’s Mellon Foundation-funded project to reimagine justice through the humanities.
“We hope the campus will engage deeply,” said Trishna Senapaty, a teaching fellow for the crime, law, and justice program and key organizer of the events. “These artists are here to connect – not just with students and faculty in classes across Crime, Law, and Justice studies, theatre and more, but also with local community organizations. This is a rare opportunity to engage in transformative work that builds bridges across community and campus.”
The residency is embedded in Professor of Theatre Sara Freeman's Connections class, Arts, Activism, and the Justice System.
"It is an extraordinary opportunity for first-year students to have guest artists in residence with them for four weeks of class,” said Freeman. "It is an example of deep experiential learning, where we are going to get to test and interact first-hand with the exercises the Reentry Theatre of Harlem uses with their participants. The workshop methods include storytelling, drawing, and mask-making. I know the processes and guidance will have us thinking deeply about methods of theatre for social change.”
The residency will include a roundtable, an interactive arts exhibit, a film screening, and a student performance, all centered on the theme of how theater can serve as a catalyst for healing, community reintegration, and social change.
The project is made possible by a $1.3 million grant from the Mellon Foundation for Reimagining Justice and Carceral Systems through the Humanities. The grant supports the expansion of the university’s crime, law, and justice studies program by employing humanities approaches to illuminate the experiences of those affected by legal systems.
“This residency is a living example of the Mellon grant’s goals,” Senapaty said. “It moves theory into practice. It’s not just about studying justice; it’s about experiencing how art can actively forge pathways toward it, right here in our community.”
The visiting artists are at the forefront of this work. Alex Anderson, who earned a Master of Social Work degree after his incarceration, founded RTH to combine his therapeutic training with his love for performing arts. The organization uses a framework called Rituals for Return, which employs theater workshops, mask-making, and storytelling to help formerly incarcerated people navigate the liminal phase of reentering society.
Rory Anderson, no relation to Alex, is a founding member of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility. His personal experience with RTA led to a career as a case manager and a performer, appearing in off-Broadway productions like “The Castle.”
Their unique expertise will be shared with the campus through several key events. The residency will kick off with a screening of the acclaimed 2023 film Sing Sing, followed by a discussion with Rory Anderson and Alex, both of whom participated in the very program the film depicts.
In early November, the residency will welcome Ramakrishnan, director of community engagement from the Louis Armstrong House Museum in New York. She will collaborate with Alex and Rory and Seattle-based organization Creative Justice on an Arts-Build, where students and community members can engage in an art project using collage and masks to explore themes of incarceration and social justice.
“This will create a space to collectively pose questions and imagine alternatives to current systems of incarceration and punishment,” Senapaty said. “This residency will allow the students and community to reflect and think about how they are part of the ecosystem.”
For more information on Reentry Theater of Harlem, visit the Puget Sound events page.
