El Barrio Street Theater

Begun in the summer of 2000 with GALA Theater, El Barrio Street Theater brings together people of different ages, races, backgrounds and professions to learn the techniques of street theater and create performances that deal with neighborhood issues. In 2001-2002, El Barrio Street Theater looked at the impact of gentrification on long-time residents of Mt. Pleasant, Columbia Heights, and Adams Morgan. In 2004-2005, it's looking at the rights of immigrants.

Past Projects

El Teatro de los Trabajadores, a project of the DC Employment Justice Center – In 2003-2004, through a partnership with DCEJC, Sol & Soul worked with a group of Latino workers to develop their own street theater skits about workers' rights.

Exchange with Mexican Street Theater Project – In July 2003, we hosted a group of young maquiladora (free trade factory) workers with El Centro de Apoyo de
Trabajadores (CAT) who are using street theater to organize workers. They performed at the Resource Center for Activism and Art, El Barrio Street Theater and El Teatro de los Trabajadores in an evening of skits and commentary on the working and living conditions of low-income workers on both sides of the border.

Support for Women in Black Vigil – In November 2003, we helped Women in Black to organize an artistic protest of the mass murders and disappearances of women in Cuidad Juarez.