Few people who are part of an award-winning,
nationally recognized organization can say they’ve been around since
the beginning. John Freeland Jr. is one of those people. A volunteer
since 1993, Freeland was an important part of US before it even
had a name. “Back then, we were called Mid Valley Theatre Company,
because we were working in the Mid Valley/Van Nuys area,” Freeland
remembers.
A veteran of the
stage, Freeland had been involved in youth theatre programs in
Connecticut and at UCLA before he found out about US through
Laura Leigh Hughes. “She asked me to get involved and I said ‘yes’,
not really knowing exactly what she was doing,” he says.
In the time he’s
been with US, Freeland has seen the organization go through
exciting and dramatic changes, from receiving the Juvenile Justice
Award in 2000, to moving the US office out of Laura Leigh’s
closet, to hiring a full-time executive director. Freeland
remembers when US began working with high risk offenders at
Central Juvenile Hall as another important milestone in the
organization’s history.
"This was a
turning point for US,” he says. “We were dealing with a
different type of youth (than we had in the past). They were in there
for serious crimes. This was the first time we really began to deal
with race issues. There was a lot of tension.”
Freeland says
the team of artists tried to diffuse this tension by pairing the youth
with people they wouldn’t normally choose to work with. While there
was initially some resistance to this course of action, “[a]fter
awhile, they got comfortable with each other. They could relax. It
became a safe place for them,” Freeland says.
Fourteen years
later, Freeland is still an active part of the US family. Over
the years he’s filled a number of different shoes at US, from
teaching artist, to sounds designer, to mentor. He’s met a lot of kids
in that time, many of whom he still remembers. But even more than the
individual youth, whose unique stories have often proved to be
powerful reminders of why he remains committed to US, what has
stuck with Freeland has been the creativity of the plays written by
the youth and the overall effect the program has had on all that have
gone through it.
“You could kind
of see their mood change over the course of the workshop. They smiled
more. It became okay for them to laugh.”
*This year John
Freeland Jr. was honored with US’ very first Volunteer of the Year
award which recognizes his longstanding commitment to transform lives
through theatre. Congratulations John!
-All 15 Years, 15 Voices articles written by volunteer writer Kristen
Scott
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