Voices Inside is our nationally recognized prison outreach program, which has been going strong for 16 years! Voices Inside uses theater arts and creative thinking to increase communication skills, build self-esteem, and humanize the lives of those behind bars in an overall effort to help fight recidivism.
And we have done just that! Many of our Voices Inside writers have gone on to win prestigious awards and fellowships; many have gone on to lead productive lives outside the razor wire, and are giving back to society as counselors, teachers, filmmakers, and published authors.
In addition to the Voices Inside program, Pioneer Playhouse produces and collaborates on two separate national festivals of short plays by incarcerated writers, one in New York City with Nylon Fusion Theater and PEN America, and one in Lexington, Kentucky with Antagonist Productions.
Each summer, as part of the program, Pioneer Playhouse actors lead weekly workshops at Northpoint Training Center, a medium security prison in Danville. Our incarcerated writers have had staged readings in New York City and won the PEN Award for Best Inmate Play in America.
Voices Inside would not be possible without funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Nancy Friday Foundation, the Kentucky Arts Council, and many of our patrons. Thank you!!!