Timeline

Kevin Bott, a master’s student at NYU, is invited to observe professor Philip Taylor facilitate an educational theater process at Woodbourne Correctional Facility, a New York State prison. Unbeknownst to him, the direction of his life changes that night!

Having immersed himself in the issue of prisoner reentry, Kevin embraces a body of criminological literature proposing the power of ritual and rites of passage as a tool for reintegrating returning citizens back into the community… His doctoral research will focus on a theatrical devising project that he’s invented whereby a group of returning citizens will work together over the course of a semester to create a homecoming rite of passage. He meets his first participant at a reentry event hosted by Columbia University. The man’s name is Alexander Anderson.

Despite the success of the project, momentum was halted by… well, life!

Kevin got an academic job offer in Syracuse, New York. With a young family to support, he accepted the offer and moved 7 hours away from NYC…

Alex, feeling transformed by his experience in R4R, dove deep into his life as a social worker, both within institutions but also with a new, day-to-day commitment to supporting other people coming home from prison…

Though both thought about the ritual often, the men lost touch completely. Kevin applied unsuccesfully for a few Soros Justice Fellowships, trying to jump start the project. With no funding on the horizon, he worked on other projects, always hoping to one day return to his work in reentry.

Alex is burnt out on institutional social work, feeling like he doesn’t have a space to affect people in a positive way. He feels oppressed and victimized by white-led institutions.

Kevin feels like R4R needs a resident social worker, and he calls Alex out of the blue after 10 years. They excitedly agree to partner on this new opportunity.

Almost 10 years to the day since it first launched, R4R rises from the ashes. Five more men go through the 12-week process and enact their rite of passage at a black box theater at Stella Adler Studio of Acting.

And wow! Did this ever feel like a traditional rite of passage! We’ll skip the ugly details and let it suffice to say it lasted almost 5 hours!

The hardest thing about R4R is that it’s an attempt to create a new cultural ritual. But there’s no roadmap and, like a wedding, you only get one shot at it! We’re learning more each time we go through it. And yes! We learned a lot on this one!

We’re about 4 weeks into our next men’s cohort when the world shuts down for Covid.

It all just… stops.

Alex continues his work, both at Stella Adler Studio of Acting and with RTH.

Kevin is hired by Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and — settled once again — begins dreaming of bringing R4R back to life — now in his home state. As director of online learning at Rutgers, he wonders if there might be an online learning component to the project. Could participants receive college credit??

Through connections at Rutgers-Newark, Kevin is introduced to Edwin “Chino” Ortiz, Chino’s brother, Carmelo, and their lifelong friend, Al-Tariq Witcher, co-founders of Returning Citizens Support Group (RCSG), an organization they started as a support network for returning citizens. Between them, the three men had served a combined 80 years inside NJ state prisons!

Chino, the executive director, is committed to “changing the narrative” about returning citizens so when he hears Kevin’s ideas, it’s a perfect match. Kevin begins attending RCSG’s weekly support group meeting, and dropping some seeds about R4R. And in the meantime, he’s looking for funding opportunities.

Kevin loves his home state, and he’s convinced that the strong bonds amongst the men at RCSG in Newark will bring something to R4R that’s not yet been seen.

Under the umbrella of RCSG’s 501(c)3 status, Kevin gets a $15,000 matching grant from New Jersey Council for the Humanities to pilot two R4R projects in Newark — one for men in fall 2023, and one for women in spring 2024.

New Jersey Performing Arts Center gives a significant in-kind donation, which allows us to use their space in downtown Newark. Our December 2023 event will be in the NJPAC black box.

Ahavas Sholom synagogue, the last active synagogue in Newark, donates rehearsal space as well.

Alex is on back on board, as resident social worker and teaching artist.

Kevin and Alex fall in love with Newark!

Eight men cross the threshold in Newark on December 10, 2023. It’s the most realized version of R4R to date, complete with a pre-event community workshop and a post-ritual community dinner and celebration. (And guess who showed up? Michelle Alexander! — author, “The New Jim Crow” — who said she and her husband were “blown away” by what they experienced!)

And just six weeks later, on January 28, 2024, we begin a new cohort — our second group of women to begin the R4R process.

There’s a lot of smoke right now — lots of people and institutions saying they want to support this work. We’re excited to see where these conversations lead!

One more thing. One of our workshop partners and volunteers in Newark is esteemed classicist, Emily Allen-Hornblower. With her help, we cast off our old Roman mantra, Incipimus, and replace it with what it always should have been — the Ancient Greek:
Archomen!
We Begin! (again)