Red Ladder in the Press
Theatre bay area
Red Ladder Theatre Connects Inmates With Their Creativity
by: David John Chavez (2019)
“He just told the judge, ‘I have come to the realization that all the problems I’ve run into is because I’ve never seen anything through—not my education, not my jobs, relationships, anything, and if I have the opportunity to complete this, it changes everything for me,’” recalls Altree Piemme, the director of Red Ladder. “He stayed in jail for those two days, we had a big audience, and as soon as he finished, he walked out the door having completed something he worked hard to accomplish.”
content Magazine
Red Ladder Theatre Company
by: Gillian Claus (Issue 10.3, 2018)
“Red Ladder is founded on the principle that creativity is what is most fundamental to us as human beings. That is what we do. Fish swim, birds fly, human beings create and make things up. That’s when people are most connected to themselves: when they are being creative. And there are a whole host of people within our community that are cut off from their ability to tap into their creativity—so we work with homeless and runaway youth, pregnant and parenting teens, kids in the foster system, juvenile halls, and men and women in prison.”
The Daily californian
Red Ladder encourages inmates to reach higher
by: Adelaide Chen (2017)
“The name “Red Ladder” represents climbing ever higher to reach for a goal. In this case, the goal is to equip people with the skill set necessary to rise above their circumstances and make different choices for themselves. These life skills are acquired through working together as an ensemble to create a play that arises from issues they find relevant to their lives, and by exploring these issues, they can voice their thoughts and feelings, leading to a feeling of empowerment. They go through a process that Piemme terms “playbuilding,” as opposed to “playwriting;” the inmates improvise, experimenting as they try out new ideas. Whatever works well, they keep. Different parts will be shifted and modified, but eventually, the play comes together as a cohesive whole. “
KQED ARTS
How to Teach Theater Improv Skills with a Sniper Above Your Head
by: Tiffany Camhi (2016)
“Red Ladder Director Karen Altree Piemme says the spontaneity of improvisation helps prisoners expand their sense of what’s possible. “In order for them to live a different life than the one that was handed to them they have to be able to imagine it first,” Altree Piemme says. “That's what we're giving them the opportunity to do through this process.”
Independent Sector
Art and the Path of Transformation
by: Karen Altree Piemme (2016)
“One of the things that you discover when you’re in the prison environment is how incredibly segregated it is, not just by choice, but also for survival’s sake. The staff divides prisoners up by race, and it creates an environment that is designed to marginalize and isolate people to such a degree that their sense of themselves and how they relate to others has become really narrow. So when these guys can come together in a creative environment – when they walk into our theatre workshops and are so excited to see each other, embrace each other, and so many issues are brought up that they want to engage with, they’re able to not only express each of their own ideas individually but in a safe ensemble that can’t really exist anywhere else in the prison system.”
Silicon valley business journal
Red Ladder sets stage for helping people solve problems
by: Danek S. Klaus (2002)
"The kinds of characters they are creating are not anyone they know, but are imaginary, someone very different from themselves," says Karen Altree Piemme, [associate] director of Red Ladder, and education and outreach programs manager at the Rep. "It really teaches them on a firsthand basis empathy for other human beings."
mercury news
Theatre company uses improv as a teaching tool
by: Mike Cassidy (2008)
"Groups work better when they understand the principles of improvisation,” says Karen Altree Piemme, director of Red Ladder Theatre Company, an outreach program of the San Jose Repertory Theatre. “It’s all about risk-taking and having trust in people and communication.”