#1281: Let It Go & Lost and Found in Chi-Town: Short One-Person Productions

This research examines how interdisciplinary arts practices facilitate trauma recovery and cultivate self-agency among marginalized communities, with a particular focus on incarcerated and formerly incarcerated youth. Drawing on over two decades of practitioner-researcher experience, this work engages young people in creating original theatrical works, musicals, songs, and podcasts as vehicles for healing and empowerment. Through audio broadcasts and Dramatic Interpretations—solo performance pieces that center participants' lived experiences—these creative works serve dual purposes: supporting individual transformation while generating public dialogue around critical issues of mass incarceration, racial equity, systemic injustice, and youth development. This practice-based research demonstrates how arts-based methodologies can amplify marginalized voices and catalyze social change.