“For many Californians the concept of justice feels deeply out of reach. According to Prison Policy Initiative, nearly 200,000 individuals are incarcerated at any given time in our state with about 35,000 incarcerated people released each year. Those numbers are sobering. They are made worse when we remember that the families connected to those individuals are not counted in those statistics. But their lives too are affected by incarceration.”

—Tarell Alvin McCraney

Established by playwright and Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney, whose own work has been profoundly influenced by his family’s experiences with the justice system, Theater as a Lens for Justice provides access to theater at Geffen Playhouse for populations impacted by incarceration, beginning with the 2024/2025 Season. This initiative provides individuals and their families the opportunity to experience performances throughout the season, supplemented with talkbacks and workshops by theater staff and artistic leaders.

Through a partnership with UCLA’s Center for Justice and Prison Education Program, students explored the intersection of art and social justice through WHAT IT IZ: The Spoken Wordical—a play originally created by formerly incarcerated artists—in a 10-week hip hop workshop in the Audrey Skirball Kenis Theater, culminating with two performances.

In December 2024, the cast of Waiting for Godot—Rainn Wilson, Aasif Mandvi, Conor Lovett, and Adam Stein—performed Act 1 of Samuel Beckett’s iconic play at the Victorville Women’s Federal Correctional Institution. This special performance continued the play’s long history of reaching incarcerated audiences, dating back to the legendary 1957 San Quentin performance.

Partering with ManifestWorks, this initiative also aims to create employment pathways into the theater industry for formerly incarcerated individuals—in all aspects of theater making including technical, artistic, and administrative—through internships, mentorships, and professional development.

Theater as a Lens for Justice is supported, in part, by Jayne Baron Sherman.