Hillcrest Youth Correctional Facility

March, 2003

6/1/03

Encore Theater

Seniors Reaching Youth

PO Box 50816

Eugene, OR 97405

Dear Encore,

             I would like to thank-you for the wonderful week and beautiful memories that you supplied the girls of Hillcrest with. When I volunteered to help with the Encore Troupe for a week while they did a residency at Hillcrest I had no idea what I was going to be gifted with, nor what the girls involved with would be given. The girls walked away with smiles on their faces, dreams renewed, and thoughts of having a future when they left the facility were reestablished. I walked away with the gift of seeing some of the girls smile for the first time in months, hearing and seeing talents emerge from the girls involved in the residency that I had only seen hints of. I also learned that almost anything is possible if you set your mind to it. What these Seniors accomplished with these girls in one week was absolutely amazing, and an experience that I will never forget.

             The residency program that Encore offers is a one-week, crash course in making experiences, and personal differences into a show, it combines the ideas of Senior Citizens, with the ideas of youth ages 14 to 22. We often spent eight to twelve hours a day together talking, dancing, laughing and sharing life experiences with one another. Drama was a big part of the week, and many exercises were done with drama to bring out feelings, ideas, and dreams. One of the most important features of the residency is being honest with what you feel, and what you have experienced. Everything that was done in residency was about being honest, and a very crucial value of life that was touched upon daily. The culmination of the week was two, one-hour shows that were a huge success with other youth at the facility, staff and visitors from outside the facility.

             My only wish is that all of the residents at Hillcrest be offered the chance to work with the Seniors involved in Encore, and hope that they may get the chance in the future. Everyone that was involved in the residency was affected by what occurred and will carry the experience with them forever. I hope that I will get the chance to participate in an Encore residency sometime again the in the future. Thank-you for all your effort and hard work! Encore!

Sincerely,

Noelle Bazer