The Performing Justice Project (PJP) was founded in 2010 by Megan Alrutz, Lynn Hoare, and Kristen Hogan as a signature program of the Center for Women’s and Gender Studies (CWGS) at the University of Texas at Austin, and a core component of the Embrey Critical Human Rights Initiative (ECHRI).
Early on, the Embrey Human Rights Initiative supported the development of a women’s studies course for high school students. As part of this initiative, PJP partnered with Garza High School to offer a theatre companion to the state’s very first accredited women’s studies course at the high school level.
While PJP was originally developed as a performance-based approach to engaging young people around women’s human rights, the model currently focuses on gender and racial justice. Youth participants from a variety of settings create performance about identity and justice in their own lives and communities.
Megan and Lynn recently published a book that offers extensive background and support for creating a Performing Justice Project program and devised performance. Devising Critically Engaged Theatre with Youth: The Performing Justice Project is available through Routledge.