Invisible Theatre Project
Black Lives Matter/LA & Dignity & Power Now Partnership
The ITSC was one of two inaugural grant recipients of the Provost’s office Arts in Action initiative. The project was an “invisible theatre” project in partnership with Black Lives Matter, LA and Dignity & Power Now on the topic of jail reform and a ballot initiative for November 2020 to provide alternative sentencing and to block the construction of a new $3.5 billion jail that does not meet the community’s needs or supports human rights among marginalized people in the Los Angeles area. USC’s ITSC worked with 13 community members and USC students to create three performance teams who scripted challenging conversations about this topic and presented them in public (“Invisible theatre”) on buses, subways, and other highly trafficked areas. Their work disseminated information about the prison-reform movement in Los Angeles County, and engaged the public in critical civic dialogue, taking the form of public arguments. The engagement of those proximate passengers or passersby was recorded by cell phone, the contents of which were edited for use on social media to create a civic dialogue about this issue to the broader general public.
Gina Clyne Photography
