Catherine James has over 25 years of experience facilitating theater, poetry, and arts workshops for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She founded Outside Voices Theater Company in 2009 and Poets of Corsi, both of which provide performance opportunities for disabled artists. Currently she leads workshops through HAI Teaching Artist. Her background also includes directing advocacy organizations and developing training programs to promote inclusion.

1. Catherine James
1979 Bedford Avenue #1, Brooklyn, NY 11225
Phone 212.991.8520
Cathy@yabla.com
2014-Present Freelance theater/poetry workshop facilitator
 Outside Voices Theater Company: Founder and director/administrator of a company of actors with
intellectual disabilities. The company (which has been together and growing since 2009) has staged two
devised and original pieces that detail their experiences of being ‘outsided’. The company takes a social
justice approach, placing the emphasis for change not on the individual with a disability but rather the wider
world that needs to embrace the greater need for access, acceptance and equality. The company comprises
of 16 actors with varying support and accomodation needs
https://www.facebook.com/Outside-Voices-Theater-Company-225359374334054/timeline/
 Poets of Corsi: Founder of community based poetry workshop for all, but specifically inclusive of adults with
intellectual disabilities. The poets have been meeting for several years and perform regularly around the city
at poetry festivals, independent bookstores, community gardens and community centers.
https://www.facebook.com/PoetsofCorsi
 HAI Teaching Artist: Currently leading theater workshops for adults with intellectual disabilities in a variety of
habilitative settings.
2009-2014 Jobpath
 Co-creator and director of a theater company (Outside Voices) of adults with and without disabilities utilizing
techniques of Augusto Boal.
 Facilitator of ‘Poets of Corsi’ writing group, a weekly creative meeting run in conjunction with the Corsi Senior
Center at Union Settlement. (Now moved to the Oberia Dempsey Center, Harlem).
 Co-facilitator of a ‘Social Understanding Group’ for adults on the autism spectrum that supports the
development of social skills, self-expression and peer support using art, role play and creative projects.
 Co-Writer and Facilitator of development and training curricula for direct support and coordinator-level
employees.
 Director of ‘Life-Coaching’ department which provided individualized and community based for adults on the
autism spectrum.
2004-2007 Self-Advocacy Association of New York State.
 Directed NYC branch of a statewide social justice organization committed to people with developmental
disabilities achieving equal rights.
 Supported Self-Advocates to plan, film and edit documentaries and Public Service Announcements on
disability rights issues that were aired on Manhattan Neighborhood Network as well as at various
conferences and online forums.
 Ran ‘Advocacy Through the Arts’ group which explored issues confronted by people with intellectual
disabilities using tools developed by Augusto Boal.
1999-2004 Performing Arts Studio Founderand Director, VSA arts of New Mexico
 Responsible for creation of performing arts department at an established visual arts center for adults with
disabilities. (Affiliated with VSA arts National).
 Created and oversaw in-house and outreach programs for theater, dance, film, and creative writing in non-
traditional, community settings such as hospitals and schools.
 Founded and directed ‘Equilibrium Theater Company’, a touring company of actors with developmental
disabilities that performed and ran workshops across the state of New Mexico in schools, theaters, schools,
hospitals and community arts venues.
 Hired, trained and supervised performing arts team of eight artist/teachers.

2.  Wrote, oversaw and participated in a series of grants that funded three arts outreach programs in
Albuquerque. These included creative writing and music workshops at a senior center and an in-patient
psychiatric facility for veterans, and a series of school workshops by ‘Equilibrium Theater Company’ that
highlighted issues of diversity and disability culture.
 Taught basic and advanced classes to adults with intellectual disabilities in diverse subject areas such as
poetry, Shakespeare, video-making, acting technique and playwriting.
1990-2003 Community Arts Projects
 Several projects with incarcerated people in both the US and the UK. These included a residency on bullying
in a young-offenders institution in Manchester UK, therapeutic work with high-risk offenders at a special unit
in New Hampshire US and work with young women in both the US and UK.
 Ran an outreach-based theater group with homeless adults in Manchester, UK in affiliation with ‘The Big
Issue’ a newspaper created for and by the homeless population. Of those participating in the project, all had
acessed stable housing by the end of the project.
 HIV awareness and education using theater in non-traditional venues such as pubs and nightclubs.
 Several theater residencies at schools in the UK and US.
 Spent a month interning and working with ‘Geese Theater’ founder John Bergman in California and New
England.
 Participated in Augusto Boal residency at the Brecht Forum in 2003.
Recent Conference Presentations
 2013, 2015 2016: Self-Advocacy Association of New York State Citywide Conference. Poetry and Theater as
a tool for self-advocacy.
 2014: Reinventing Quality Conference. Baltimore MD. Communitywide efforts to expand Social Inclusion:
New Contexts and Frameworks.
 2014: NYSACRA: Hosting Community Spaces: How to transform community inclusion into community
engagement rhough collabortaive neighborhood events.
 2012: National TASH Conference: Long Beach, CA. Beyond Social Skills (How I Learned to Stop Worrying
and Love the Messy, Beautiful Truth)
EDUCATION
BA Hons in Theater, Victoria University of Manchester, England.
Accepted to begin MFA in Performance and Perfromance studies at Pratt. Deferred entry to 2017.