DE-CRUIT Veterans Program
Program: Arts in Health
Area of Work: Arts
Grant Purpose: The DE-CRUIT Program: Addressing Mental Health Needs of Vulnerable Military Veterans Through Theatre
Overview:
DE-CRUIT is an NYC-based arts organization that uses theatre to meet the diverse mental health needs of military veterans. DE-CRUIT was founded by U.S. Army veteran, Stephan Wolfert, based on his own experience of using Shakespeare’s verses to heal from trauma. For its inception, the program has used principles from classical actor training, as well as verses and characters from Shakespeare’s plays, to allow veterans to better understand the timelessness of soldiers’ suffering, which dates to Shakespeare’s time and earlier.
Grant:
Purpose: To support their theater workshops that utilize Shakespearian plays to spark dialogue and address the mental health needs of vulnerable military veterans, with a special focus on veterans of color, low-income, and formerly incarcerated veterans.
Using Shakespearian monologue form, veterans in the program construct their own personal trauma narratives which they share with other veterans in the group through a systematic, stepwise process. Each cohort finishes the program in a performance for an audience of the veterans’ family, friends, and community members that serves to communalize the process of healing and supports veterans’ reintegration back into their communities.
