Press

ABC-TV Feature  on Localish!

December 8, 2025

ABC explores Drama Club’s Apprentice Program, which provides paid personal and professional development internships for justice-impacted youth. Apprentices collaborate closely with mentors to build skills, set meaningful goals, and shape brighter futures.

Drama Club is a New York-based nonprofit on a mission to bring theater and improv to young people in the juvenile justice system. Founder Josie and Executive Director Ashley share how the program helps young people process their experiences and rebuild their lives after incarceration. Kelly also meets formerly incarcerated teens Tiffany and Hassan, who share how the program helped get their lives back on track with an emotional thank you.

Kelly Clarkson Show

November 05, 2025

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Drama Club is featured in episode 1 of Ear Hustle’s latest podcast series—The Loop. Listen in to get a new perspective on the work of Drama Club and the young people that we serve. Listen on these links or wherever you get your podcasts!

Sparking Hope: The Power of Improv is a PBS documentary that offers a rare look inside Drama Club’s transformative theater programs for incarcerated and court-involved youth in New York City. Filmed in part at Rikers Island, the series highlights how improvisational theater fosters creativity, emotional resilience, and non-violent problem-solving among young people navigating the justice system.

People Magazine Feature

August 16, 2025

October 2018

Susan Kelechi Watson Introduces Drama Club in People Magazine!

Since August 2014, Whittlesey and her team have made their way to the 91-year-old correctional facility on Saturdays. The teaching artists do improv with them in two sessions in two different units from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., all in preparation for a finale show for corrections staff, invited family, and selected guests at the end of their 12 weeks. “The one thing I’ve noticed about Drama Club is the impact,” Lindsey Lybrand, Rikers’ executive director of advancement and enrichment, said. “Juveniles come out of their shells…And that’s rare to see in here.”

Drama Club Peer Mentors, Teaching Artists, and Board Member Susan Kelechi Watson sat down with John Legend to discuss how our youth can turn their passion for theater into pathways towards success. We also got a special behind-the-scenes pass to a rehearsal for Jesus Christ Superstar Live! Click here to read the accompanying article published on TODAY.

February 2019’s issue of American Theatre Magazine features Drama Club alongside other leading theater programs doing work within the criminal justice system. The piece, titled A Role For Theatre In Criminal Justice?, highlights Drama Club as well as many of our organizational allies, such as Rehabilitation Through The Arts.

The Takeaway, NPR

October 4, 2017

Listen to NPR coverage of our program on Rikers Island in Bringing Theater Behind Bars.

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