Internship Profile: Ahmed Reda

Ahmed Reda

Acting Internship

The Foundry in partnership with 2nd Street, 2nd Chances

Acting Internship: The Foundry in partnership with 2nd Street, 2nd Chances

The Acting Internship with The Foundry in West Stockbridge, MA is an 11-week intensive with direct stage experience led by The Foundry’s Producing Artistic Director, Amy Brentano and Artistic Associate, Sara Katzoff. The Foundry’s acting interns take major roles in productions, working alongside professional actors in the performance of new works.

This internship was in partnership with 2nd Street, 2nd Chances, a non-profit organization in

Pittsfield that provides formerly incarcerated people of Berkshire County with the tools,

programs, and support they need to quickly and effectively become productive members of the Berkshire community. Co-creators and directors Amy Brentano and Sara Katzoff put together an intergenerational ensemble of five diverse actors ranging in ages from 27-63, with light, sound and projection designers, and professor Standley as fight choreographer to work with seven 2nd Street clients to share their specific stories.

The new collaboratively created work, REPAIR, premiered in August of 2024 built from the

stories of formerly incarcerated clients of 2nd Street. The non- linear journey of these people

dramatized the challenges involved with navigating incarceration, trauma, survival and healing. Through verbatim text from in-person interviews, movement, sound, music, and video projection, the multi-disciplinary performance piece, REPAIR, challenged audience’s

assumptions about these men and amplified their voices and humanity.

The culminating performance educated the public on issues of incarceration and re-entry in a highly personal way, uprooting stereotypes about this population. Equally significant to the

performance was the empowerment voiced by the formerly incarcerated men after witnessing their own voices and narratives reflected back to them on stage.

Reda with the cast of REPAIR; Photo Credit Keith Forman

"This project was my first devised show outside the college. I wanted to work on my skills in

improvisation. This project was my chance to build those skills while working as an actor collaborator on a new play. Working with professionals on real stories was very inspiring. I was immersed in research into the lives of formerly incarcerated people, which was a new

experience for me, because I come from another country with a different culture. I was excited about interviewing real people and about delivering their stories through theatre.”

“I embodied the character’s relationship with his daughter, who because of his incarceration,

missed her beginning. I empathized with this story because of my own experience being

separated from my wife and daughters in Egypt. It was the first time I felt that my art matters,

especially after one of the clients thanked me and told me that he was very satisfied because I interpreted his story in the best way.”

“I attended all rehearsals, participated in all acting exercises, and shared my thoughts, which

helped me develop a deep understanding of the nature of jail life. My collaborators listened to my examples with an open-mind. They discussed my ideas and made me feel comfortable

sharing my thoughts. This kind of brainstorming empowered my relationships with my

colleagues. I earned excellent colleagues and friends with this project. I also held the powerful responsibility of delivering the client's voice to the audience, allowing them to witness and process their experience of incarceration and re-entry.”