About the Nonprofit
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Rogue Pack's (RP) mission is to create a community where youth transcend social barriers by taking ownership of their stories through theater arts. Rogue Pack is a nonprofit theatre company that facilitates storytelling theater workshops for underserved youth. Our staff of theatre professionals help youth write their unique stories then aid them in developing and devising a script through writing and performance workshops in script creation, organization, editing, directing and the rehearsal process. The purpose of our organization is to provide youth of all backgrounds and income levels access to high quality theatre arts programs. RP advances inclusion and equity because we target youth from diverse backgrounds. Participants are youth of color, immigrants, in foster care, Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) custody and have disabilities. Storytelling workshops allow these communities to be heard by the larger community, breaking down barriers of isolation, fostering understanding and acceptance.
RP brings underserved youth from all over Portland and provides a space for them to perform their stories. The community witnesses their powerful stories and becomes aware of their struggles and potential. Youth cross social barriers by performing their stories, participating in talkbacks and conversing at receptions where participants and audiences mingle.
RP has provided theatre workshops for disconnected and low-income youth for over 10 years.
We participate in the Fertile Ground Festival annually and have expanded the number of performances. In 2018 we presented girls from Boys & Girls Aid performing from their script, “Truth and Dare,” for the Fertile Ground Theatre Festival. RP conducted workshops for a year at Donald E. Long Detention Center with young men 15-17 awaiting trial. They wrote “Creating Life Inside,” which was performed by actors at Sellwood Playhouse during Fertile Ground 2019.
Other partnerships are at Title I schools, youth organizations, residential treatment centers, incarcerated, in DHS/foster care, homeless, youth who identify as LGBTQ, POC, and who experience mental health issues and disabilities. Past partners include: p:ear, drop in center for homeless youth; Boys & Girls Aid for adjudicated teenage girls, and girls 12-17 in the foster care system; Ninth Grade Counts, a Portland Public School targeting Academic Priority students, Folk Time, a nonprofit for youth diagnosed with mental illnesses and SUN (Schools Uniting Neighborhoods) after school programs at Lane Middle School , Jason Lee K-8 and Madison High School, the most diverse Title I schools in PPS; and MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility. RP served 80 boys at Donald E. Long Detention Center and 46 girls each year in foster care from 2011-2018 at Boys & Girls Aid, and Parrot Creek Residential Treatment Center for adjudicated males, Harmony Academy for youth in recovery, Raphael House domestic violence shelter, and Parenting With Intent. During the 2021-22 we are holding workshops at Clackamas School District Enrichment Camps, Janus Youth Programs and Homeplate Youth Services for youth experiencing homelessness. In January 2023 we will add our newest partnership with Family Preservation Project and Director Jessica Katz at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.
RP advances inclusion and equity because we target youth from diverse backgrounds. Participants are youth of color, immigrants, in foster care, Oregon Youth Authority (OYA) custody and have disabilities. Storytelling workshops allow these communities to be heard by the larger community, breaking down barriers of isolation, fostering understanding and acceptance.
Rogue Pack's goal is to engage and empower these young people by writing their personal stories and sharing them in the theatrical process, improving their communication and interpersonal skills through writing, reading, public speaking, movement, improvisation, and collaboration—skills that can be applied in any professional field they may plan to enter.
Along with our artistic partners, we will rebuild these troubled youths' resiliency and self-esteem by providing a safe environment where their artistic expression can be fully developed, realized, and their voices are heard, strengthening their presence in the community.