Literary Los Angeles: The Unusual Suspects

I first met Amy Ellenburger when I was writing about arts funding and Chalk Repertory Theatre, the theater company of which Ellenburger is a founding member.   (I later blogged about Chalk Repertory and their resident playwright Ruth McKee here at PANK.)

But I only recently learned about Ellenburger’s involvement with the nonprofit arts education group The Unusual Suspects.   The Unusual Suspects offers 10-week theater arts workshops to underserved youth ages 14-18, including those in foster care and the juvenile justice system.   A typical series is divided into two parts, writing and performance.   First the students write a play together as an ensemble then do a full production of the play.

The Unusual Suspects was founded seventeen years ago by actress Laura Leigh Hughes in response to the 1992 Los Angeles riots.   Now they focus much of their attention on combating the city’s intractable problem of gang violence.   Volunteers travel to juvenile justice facilities, treatment centers, probation camps, after-school programs, and community centers to do on-site theater training.

Ellenburger came to The Unusual Suspects as a teaching artist before moving into the office as communications coordinator.

“Theater benefits [the students] on so many different levels,” Ellenburger says.   “It’s an opportunity to participate and to have a voice that they don’t necessarily have outside [and] they are also learning some life skills.   We do a lot of improv and ensemble work, and for the kids it’s a way of building up social skills, responsibility, and especially courage, because performing is scary.   And of course it develops reading and writing skills.”

“We don’t tell them what to write, it’s all generated by the kids,” she says, and the students often write about serious issues like homosexuality, drug abuse, and immigration.   These student-written productions are then attended by family members, classmates, neighbors, even rival gang members.

“They’ve written this play for their community, for their parents, for their neighbors, for their schools.   And it gives the community a chance to reflect and to see what issues these kids are bringing up.”

I contacted one of these writers, a former Narbonne High School student and Unusual Suspects alumna and intern, Mandy Archuleta.   Archuleta proudly recounts that her group was the first to do a musical, “Life on the Offbeat,” necessitating that the Unusual Suspects add an additional summer songwriting workshop to their usual programming.

“I am so passionate about this program and believe that it is such a positive and productive program for youth to be able to be involved in,” she told me over email. “I have seen it not only keep my peers out of trouble, but get some young people that have already had felonies against them or been involved with gangs or drugs out of that lifestyle.”

Archuleta says, “This is a place where troubled young people can do a positive thing with their time and feel good about themselves. It really can change lives. It has done nothing but positive things for our community. Here we were able not only to learn acting skills, but life skills as well. We learn respect, patience, and teamwork. These skills that we take from The Unusual Suspects are productive lessons and tools we will need in the real world.

“The teaching artists are just the most wonderful, inspiring, and talented people ever. They are there for us in every way possible. Not only to help us create something, but with life issues as well. They made us feel so comfortable and we were able to get life advice from them as well. They were there for us in every way possible. I love this program. It is the best way to get young people to do something positive when most of their life isn’t positive at all.”

“It really is a blessing to be able to have a place like this for troubled youth to be able to go. It is the best kind of atmosphere inside this group. You feel so safe and welcomed, it’s unbelievable,” she says.   “You come in not knowing anyone and feeling a bit uneasy, and leave with more confidence and a new respect for yourself and  the world  around you. To me, that is the best kind of success any program can accomplish.”

Hilary Ward, another Chalk Rep founding member and Unusual Suspects teaching artist, says, “I got involved with the Unusual Suspects when a teaching artist recommended me for a staged reading.  I arrived thinking that I was doing a good deed, but quickly forgot that I was doing a ‘favor’ because I was so impressed with the work the participants had produced. Since then I’ve done several more readings and then eventually started working as a teaching artist at Camp David Gonzales in Calabasas. What I especially love about Unusual Suspects is that it really is all about the guys: their thoughts, their experiences, their voices, their choices.  They are given the opportunity to express themselves in a safe place and actually be kids again.”

The Unusual Suspects is always looking for donations, supplies, and volunteers, but one of the simplest and most enjoyable ways to help is just to sit in the audience.

Ellenburger says, “Come see a show — it’s the easiest the volunteer opportunity you will ever have in your life—it’s two hours of your time, you get there, see the show, and enjoy it, and cheer them on.”