Round III of Irondale’s To Protect, Serve, and Understandbegins on February 28. This is our continuing effort, in conjunction with the NYPD, to use theatrical improvisation to build communication and empathy between officers and the communities they are charged to protect and serve.
Each of the ten weekly workshops begins with a family dinner – a simple meal and sustained conversation around a very big table. With cops, community members, actors, and guests, we plan for twenty at the table. At last week’s reunion for Round II, one participant told us:
“It was a brilliant idea to begin each session sitting around the table and having dinner. It broke down barriers – we sat next to each other, listened to one another, and shared our stories. There’s something about breaking bread together that connects to the social and emotional aspects of being human. It reconnected me to when I was a kid and sitting down to eat with my parents and brother. I have warm memories of those times.”
For Round III we want to develop a broader network of cooks. We are looking for people in the community who are prepared to make their favorite recipes for us – for soup or a main dish or salad or bread or dessert. Once or often, on their own or with others, on their own schedule or on ours.
Tempted? Talk with us! Start by email (lindgren@buffalo.edu) or just call Janet (917.648.3227). And if you know someone who might be interested – in baking bread for us once a week for ten weeks, in forming a weekly cookie baking collective with friends and children, in making a series of their signature dishes – please pass this on.
