From the Streets to the Stage

The Seldom Seen Actors is not your average theatre troupe. Their drama is all too real.

The cast is comprised of formerly and currently homeless actors and actresses. Their material exclusively depicts of life on the streets. Their goal? To open eyes, inspire, and shed light on the realities of homelessness in America.

Here's an excerpt from the Christian Science Monitor:

For more than three years now, the Seldom Seen Actors have reenacted their life stories on the stages of churches and high schools around the San Francisco Bay Area. The scripts, which they write themselves, refuse to gloss over the hard truths of drug addiction. They avoid self-pity in favor of brutal honesty: I wasn't there for my kids. I lied. I cheated. I stole.

Some of the cast members still spend nights on the streets, or in crowded shelters. Others lean on disability payments to rent furnished rooms. After years in the throes of addiction, estranged from his family, Forester now works as the director of a transitional housing program. He and the rest of the cast share a goal of telling true stories of their lives on the streets - the grit, the pain, and the humanity.

Tonight, inside a poorly ventilated, sweat-scented church gymnasium, the actors hope to save some of their young audience from starting down the path toward grief and desperation. And in so doing, they say, they're also trying to save themselves.

It takes a lot of guts for these actors and actresses to relive stories they'd rather forget on stage in front of hundreds of people. If you're in the Oakland, California area, keep your eyes peeled for this amazing group.

[Photo from Christian Science Monitor: "Showtime! Isaac Okoronkwo waits offstage before the start of a performance by the Seldom Seen Actors of Oakland, California."]