A gold baseball cap, with feathers attached

Prison Arts

ACT Ensemble is an investigation at the intersects of performance, art, dance, aesthetics, narrative, and the meaning of theatre/performance in prison. ACT focuses on original ensemble creation, rooted in personal and communal history.

ACT Ensemble (Action Change Theatre) is a program operating in three Colorado prisons, co-founded by Julie Rada and Misty Saribal and currently under the shared leadership of Julie Rada, Joanna Rotkin, and Diana Dresser.

History

ACT Ensemble performed two productions in Sterling’s West Programs Building for audiences of invited guests and facility staff:

ACT Ensemble then embarked on an investigation at the intersects of performance, art, dance, aesthetics, narrative, and the meaning of theatre/performance in prison. Throughout, the ensemble incorporated compositional and embodied practices to discover artistic excellence, develop new work, and deploy practice-based-research methods. ACT Ensemble brought in guest artist, Joanna Rotkin, to amplify the role of dance and movement in our creative explorations.

In spring 2019, Rada was recruited to facilitate with the newly founded University of Denver Prison Arts Initiative (DU PAI) and began co-directing One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest with Ashley Hamilton, in concert with many of the same artists who had been part of ACT Ensemble.

In September 2019, Rada closed ACT Ensemble to work full-time as DU PAI’s Director of Programming, developing key principles and pedagogical practices, training dozens of DU PAI facilitators, launching several cornerstone initiatives, and establishing DU PAI as a statewide initiative.

Now, in September 2022, ACT Ensemble re-emerges. Rada continues this work and is joined by Joanna Rotkin and Diana Dresser in co-leadership with programs at Limon, Denver Women’s, Denver Reception and Diagnostic Center, and in upcoming months, Sterling.

Philosophy