Formerly Incarcerated Voices On Stage

SHOW TITLE: Formerly Incarcerated Voices On Stage

COMPANY: Formerly Incarcerated People's Performance Project (FIPPP)

BASED CITY OF COMPANY: Oakland

AUTHOR: Individual Performers

SHOW DESCRIPTION:Join us for powerful solo performances from Christina Aanestad and Algiin Ford, members of the Formerly Incarcerated People’s Performance Project (FIPPP), sharing their personal experiences with the justice system and incarceration. FIPPP believes in the power of storytelling and that sharing personal experiences from marginalized communities can be transformative for the storyteller and the audience. Through their stories, they give an insight into life behind bars, systemic obstacles, personal revelations, and the injustices entrenched within the carceral system and reentry they have learned first-hand.

TYPE OF SHOW: Multiple Solo Performance Excerpts

TIME OF SHOW: 60 minutes

WARNINGS: There is no age minimum for attendance FIPPP shows. However, these stories include frank portrayals of the causes and impacts of incarceration, including descriptions of physical violence, substance abuse, and racial trauma. That said, these stories are rich with humanity, insight, and redemption, and are highly recommended for teenagers and up.

CAST BIOS:

Christina Aanestad

Christina is a FIPPP Fellow and a journalist, media maker, and the news director at KPFA radio in Berkeley, CA. Her work has also appeared internationally on Deutsche Welles, and nationally in High Times, on National Native News, NPR, and Making Contact. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, her coming-of-age struggles include foster care, homelessness, violence, abuse, addiction, and incarceration. As a media maker, she's committed to uplifting and humanizing the voices of marginalized people in everyday news cycles, and believes in the power of storytelling to heal, and in journalism as a catalyst for social change. Christina is also a hypnotherapist and enjoys exploring the esoteric side of life. She finds joy in spending time with her son, being creative, traveling, visiting forests, and relaxing in hot springs.

Algiin Ford

Algiin Ford is a FIPPP Fellow and Bay Area-based writer and actor with more than 20 years of stage and screen experience. His wide-ranging theater credits include classics like Skin Of Our Teeth and Fences as well as experimental plays and his own original works. He is currently workshopping his own, The Silent Assassin and completed a run of his original work, Tobacco, Zig-Zags & Gum, at The Marsh in 2024. Algiin recently hopped on stage at the world-famous Nuyorican Poets Cafe in NYC to perform an original piece. Algiin has been cast in the drama series "Queen Sugar" and "Underground", and the Academy Award-winning film, What Dreams May Come. With over 20 years as a yoga instructor and wellness professional, Algiin brings a unique physicality and performance to all of his work.

ABOUT FIPPP:

The Formerly Incarcerated People's Performance Project (FIPPP) believes the power of storytelling and sharing personal experiences from marginalized communities can be transformative. FIPPP Fellows share stories about their life experiences and FIPPP is currently the Company-in-Residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. FIPPP believes that sharing the stories of those who have been formerly incarcerated will foster compassion and understanding about the circumstances that may lead to incarceration. For their audiences, the stories at FIPPP are meant to bring hope and shed light on the inhumane conditions prisoners often endure during and after incarceration. Find out more about FIPPP here.

Host or Publisher EXIT Theatre