COMMUNITY WORKS

Community Works/California (CW) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to using the arts and education as a catalyst for change among underserved populations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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PUBLIC THEATER EVENT

Cracking the Safe

Click here for director's statement.

Cracking the Safe, an original Soapstone Theater Company production which premiered in May 2004, deals with the nearly impenetrable "safes" that people build around their hearts, especially in response to traumatic events, and which contain lost parts of themselves, old demons, memory, and truth. These "safes" are cracked by the courageous cast members, who have broken into and out of secret places in their souls through this project and, by sharing their stories on stage, have broken the silence that can keep people isolated in the trauma of violent events.

An expanded, revised, and polished production of Cracking the Safe was be presented to the public, as well as to nontraditional audiences in jails, schools, and other community venues, in late 2004.

An early version of Cracking the Safe was presented May 14 and 15, 2004, at the University of San Francisco's Presentation Theater. The production was a collaboration between Community Works, the San Francisco Sheriff Department's Resolve to Stop the Violence Project, and USF's Performing Arts & Social Justice Program.

Soapstone Theater Company

Community Works' Soapstone Theater Company was founded by Roberto Gutierrez Varea as an extension of Community Works' theater arts program offered in the San Francisco County Jail. Soapstone creates and presents original works and innovative adaptations of plays by ex-offenders and survivors of violent crimes. Soapstone enables company members to tell their stories, thereby becoming their own agents of healing. Its goal is to involve all participants in a creative act of restoration through collaboration between ex-offenders, survivors, and the community. The company empowers survivors to find their voices and tell their stories in an artistic forum, while giving ex-offenders the opportunity to deal creatively with the consequences of their actions and with their own victimization.

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