NYPD Takes Action To Promote Peace Through Theater In 2018

Irondale, Brooklyn's leading theatrical think-tank, with the support of the New York Police Department, commenced this week cycle four of To Protect, Serve, and Understand. The 10-week, 40-hour workshop will run through January 30, culminating in free public performances February 9-10. Through pleasantries of breaking bread, improvisation techniques, and theater games, this cutting-edge training and engagement program bridges the gap between the police and community.

The To Protect, Serve and Understand workshop format facilitates real, raw, unfiltered, and often heated dialogue. At times participants take on the "role" of the other, to tell stories from a completely different perspective than their own. The workshops-which start with a dinner and discussion, followed by group theater games and actor-training techniques-teach a unique approach to problem-solving with focus and non-judgmental evaluation criteria. Participants present an original performance at the end of the workshop series, telling their own stories as well as the stories of others, through improvisations and monologues.

"We've found Irondale's philosophy and training techniques effective in facilitating meaningful connections between the police and the community we serve," explains Susan Herman, Deputy Commissioner, Collaborative Policing for the NYPD. "This unique partnership between Irondale and the NYPD provides an opportunity for participants to share deeply personal experiences and examine their assumptions and beliefs, leading to a change in the way both sides not only enter a situation but the way they interact and react."

"Relating to and understanding the people around us is the construct of our society-that it also at the base of what acting is," explains Terry Greiss, Executive Director of Irondale. "With a certain level of emotional exploration, empathy, and transference, we are informed to make permanent changes in our behavior. While change starts with the individual and extends to a group, the group can begin to encompass a community that can witness real and profound change."

To Protect, Serve, and Understand follows a model that Irondale-celebrating their 35th season-has used since its inception to develop the Ensemble's main-stage theatrical works and in its youth programs. To date, 21 police officers and 21 civilians have participated in To Protect, Serve, and Understand over three rounds. Performances have seen audiences at capacity, with more than 900 community members attending the performances.

To Protect, Serve and Understand workshops run weekly from November 28, 2017 - January 30, 2018, 6:30-9:30 p.m., on Tuesday nights.

Public performances will take place February 9 and 10 at 7:00 p.m. All performances are FREE to the public.

Irondale is located at 85 South Oxford Street in Brooklyn, New York. The theater is accessible by Subway: C to Lafayette; B, D, M, N, Q, R, 2, 3, 4, or 5 to Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street; and G to Fulton Street.

Irondale is a theater located in the heart of the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District. It is a theatre ensemble, a performance think-tank and a laboratory for collaborative theatre- making. Irondale's unique and transformational theatre space has gained much attention as a place for both established and emerging artists to premiere major projects and showcase developing work. The Irondale Ensemble Project was founded in 1983 by Jim Niesen, Terry Greiss, and Barbara Mackenzie-Wood and is one of the longest established permanent ensemble theaters in the country. The ensemble has created over 60 Off-Broadway productions ranging from intimate chamber productions of Shakespeare to original, epic, company-devised works. Irondale's learning programs for students and community provide high quality, cutting-edge workshops and residencies designed to encourage and develop the artist in each individual and to make the skills derived from participating in making theatre a valuable contribution to successful, daily living.

The New York City Police Department, the largest police agency in the country, is dedicated to enhancing the City's quality of life by working in partnership with the community to enforce the law, preserve peace, reduce fear, and maintain order. The Department is committed to accomplishing its mission to protect all New Yorkers by treating every person with courtesy, professionalism, and respect, and enforcing the law impartially.