Neighborhood Nonprofit Spotlight: Ann Singer, Rogue Pack

Patch talks to Ann Singer from Rogue Pack, a nonprofit dedicated to inspiring youth in the arts community.

Patch: Tell us about you! Provide Patch with a brief bio about yourself and your work in the theater arts world.

Ann (Bio): Executive and Educational Programs Director: Ann has a BFA in Theatre Arts from NYU and a Masters in Education from San Francisco State University. She has taught children and adults in Spain and Chile while learning to speak Spanish. Through a fellowship with the State Department, she taught at the University of the North West in South Africa, and at the University of Tuzla in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She is the creator of the Stories Series, which she began as a member of Lunacy Stageworks, and is now an annual program produced for Fertile Ground, Portland's festival of new works. She has organized workshops and performances for at-risk youth and undeserved populations for eight years in the Portland Metro Area. Ann serves on the board of Soroptimist International of Portland whose mission is to improve the lives of women and children around the world.

Rogue Pack's mission is to create a community where youth transcend social barriers by taking ownership of their stories through theater arts. We facilitate writing and performance workshops where youth write their stories, devise a script and create a show as performers and technicians behind the scenes for the public throughout the Portland metro area.

Patch: When did you open?

Ann: January 2015

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Patch: How does the work your organization does help to strengthen the community?

Ann: Rogue Pack serves the many disconnected youth throughout the Portland Metro Area. Providing youth of diverse cultures access to theater arts education allows them unfettered expression of who they are in their community. This reveals their challenges, hopes, and desire for an understanding of themselves in our communities and the world. Recurrent themes of our youths' self-directed scripts are identifying themselves as people of color against racism and how their communities and their cultures affect their lives and their views of the future.

Rogue Pack workshops provide youth access to art as a form of self-expression, motivate them to stay in school and continue on to higher education, and provide a broader range of universal life skills to draw from. The process of writing and staging their stories will strengthen their ability to connect to, inspire, and transform audiences as they bear witness to their cultural and personal identities

Youth involved in theater are less likely to engage in delinquent behavior.

Youth involved in theater are more likely to be successful academically, show an interest in college, actively participate in their community, and exhibit greater self-esteem.

Rogue Pack's programs assist disconnected youth in breaking self-destructive patterns by helping them develop life skills, greater self-worth, self-discipline, and a sense of community; dismantling patterns of recidivism; healing trauma through storytelling and play; improving their group skill building and interpersonal communications skills and providing the tools for future professional success.

For the arts world, Rogue Pack is cultivating the next generation of theater professionals and patrons of the arts. Guest artists will earn a stipend and share their artistic passion as they teach and mentor students, providing those students an opportunity to work with professional artists.

For the community, fostering a connection to and supportive understanding of our youth and future adult citizens.

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Patch: What is your biggest struggle?

Ann: Giving access to high quality arts programs to low-income youth.

Patch: What do you see for the future?

Ann: Expanding our partners so we can reach more under served youth.