Straight from the Suspects: Their Creative Process

The best way to understand what makes The Unusual Suspects programs so powerful is to join the audience for a performance. And the next best way is to watch this short video of our students explaining how they wrote their plays!

The Unusual Suspects brought in-depth theatre workshops to over 1200 middle and high school students in 2017! With generous support from people like you, vulnerable youth developed self-confidence, formed essential support networks and gained the tools to express themselves to the world.

Thank you!!

We’d Like to Introduce You to Olga…

 

 






Olga has been a part of The Unusual Suspects for 10 years! She began with our intergenerational Neighborhood Voices Program when her children were young, to build a supportive community for her family. This spring, after years of participating on her own, her husband and sons joined her in the program. Together as a family, alongside their neighbors, they wrote and performed an original piece of theater for over 100 members of their community! When I ask Olga how being a part of The Unusual Suspects has helped her family, she shares how valuable it is for them to spend time all together, engaged in something creative. She speaks about her eldest son starting high school this year and joining our after-school Youth Theatre Residency Program there, instantly having a safe space to make friends and express himself in a new school. She tells me about her younger son’s teacher sharing how, since he’s joined Neighborhood Voices with his family he’s participating in class like never before.



All of us at The Unusual Suspects believe that strengthening families is essential to supporting youth. This is why we offer programs and opportunities for the whole family to get involved. Every day, we see firsthand the power of the arts to build stronger, healthier families like Olga’s. In 2017, we engaged over 1,300 people in our programs, but the need for our vital arts education and mentorship programming is still growing, and we must meet it! In the coming year, despite very real threats to our federal and local funding, we are committed to deepening our work in communities lacking quality arts programming, like Pacoima and South Los Angeles. This year, your support is more important than ever. With you, there are no limits to how many families we can strengthen. Thank you!

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The Unusual Suspects Theatre Company believes every young person deserves to be seen, heard and understood. Through collaborative workshops, we work deeply to empower the hardest to reach communities to tell their stories together leading to self-discovery, a sense of belonging, and the building of stronger families and communities.