The Odyssey Project
The Odyssey Project is a leadership initiative for incarcerated youth.
The participants leverage storytelling and theatre modalities to look at their lives through a heroic lens rather than a criminalized one. Using Homer's Odyssey, the participants explore the challenging elements in their lives to rewrite and perform the epic poem in their voices. They use the themes of self-examination and self-discovery inherent to the poem as a platform to fashion a journey that creates a sense of empowerment, liberation, and self-determination.
The project honors youth in identifying their heroic life mission, supporting them in mapping a course of action, and seeing a future beyond the arbitrary limitations of economy, ethnicity, or education imposed by our society. The program incorporates reading and creative writing exercises, improvisation classes, mime, mask building, rap, animation, and dance, to help the incarcerated youth find their voice.
"But I also learned a lot of things. I learned to have a strong love for music and writing my own lyrics; because all of the pain and all my tears that I shed go into the music.”
-Sirles
Media
Inside The Odyssey Project – Short videos documenting my process
The Odyssey Project Documentary – Empowered Films
The Odyssey Project website – UCSB
Central Coast Voices Interview – NPR
Radio Interview with Senator Bill Bradley – American Voices
Odyssey Project Aims to Reduce Youth Recidivism - Independent.com
The Odyssey Project: A Martial Arts Journey Toward Recovery and Liberation – Theatre Topics
Photos by Clarissa Koenig.
I designed The Odyssey Project to partner incarcerated and free youth in a collaborative endeavor that promotes dialogue, respect, agency. I can also offer the project exclusively for juvenile and adult groups in detention.
If you’re interested in constructing this project in your community, contact me.
The Odyssey Project is supported by these organizations:
