RTA’s first long-term alumni initiative was the Reentry Project, a group that shared the experience of reentering society through improvisation, theater exercises, writing assignments, and discussion. The play that emerged, Home is a Verb by Melissa Cooper, was performed for enthusiastic audiences at Carnegie Hall studios and as a benefit performance on Broadway.

In collaboration with PEN America’s Prison Writing Program, RTA alumni performed the short play Freedom Feather at Brooklyn Bookfest, and inspired by the paintings of Edward Hopper, alumni wrote, directed, and performed dramatic vignettes at the Hopper House Museum & Study Center.

RTA alumni have represented the voice of those inside through virtual performances of music and prisoner-written stories, poems, and letters. These performances are then shared with our members still incarcerated.

Alumni frequently represent RTA in community presentations and meet with elected officials to speak about the role of arts in prison.