EPISODE 1

What does improv theatre have to offer a group of at-risk kids in Brooklyn? Nigel and Earlonne follow a class of incarcerated teenagers at the Crossroads Youth Detention Facility, from their first day of class through the final performance, to find out.

About The Loop

In this all–New York series, Ear Hustle embeds with two innovative programs aimed at kids and young people caught up in the criminal justice system.

In the first five episodes of the series, we bring listeners into the Crossroads Youth Detention Facility in Brooklyn, where a program called Drama Club teaches improvisational theater techniques as a way to build connection and conflict-resolution skills. Nigel and Earlonne spend a year at Crossroads, following a cohort of Drama Club participants and graduates.

For the final episode of the season, we take the train uptown to the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. Twice a month, the museum closes its doors to the public, and opens them to a select group of parents and their children. Moms and dads, bussed over from Riker’s Island in chains, are uncuffed upon arrival at the museum. Wearing regular, non-prison clothes, they’re reunited with their kids for a rare, emotional, and often bittersweet visit outside prison walls.