James has taken real people, or a combination of real people, and given these characters a real sens

Cornerstone hotels in alajuela costa rica Theater Company's "Love On San Pedro" hotels in alajuela costa rica is a collaboration with the community of Skid Row, Downtown Los Angeles. Inspired by the stories of hundreds of Skid Row residents, playwright James McManus' new work sheds light on a neighborhood where homelessness and poverty are the norm, but a spirit of creativity, activism and determination thrives. hotels in alajuela costa rica Starring both professional actors and over 20 community members, the play is being presented November 7-24 at Los Angeles Mission , in the heart of Skid Row .
The Skid Row community is comprised of a variety hotels in alajuela costa rica of people who have found themselves going through hotels in alajuela costa rica difficult times. The community is also made up of those individuals who work towards making change in their neighborhood, improving their own lives, and the lives of those around them.
I had the privilege of interviewing hotels in alajuela costa rica four very different individuals who are working towards positive change. Some of them know first hand the difficulties faced on the street because they have suffered it themselves. All of them are part of the Skid Row community.
Ricardo Medina has just transitioned from a part-time employee into a full-time hotels in alajuela costa rica position as Assistant to L.A. Mission's Director of Career Services and Chaplian at the Los Angeles Mission, a 77-year-old Christian-based organization that provides emergency shelter, recovery services, and transition programs.
Ricardo graduated from the Urban Training Institute (UTI), an LA Mission hotels in alajuela costa rica program geared towards rehabilitation and increasing an individual's employability, thereby helping to combat homelessness in a permanent way. He is proud of the program and an advocate even for those who seem unlikely to succeed. Ricardo gave me a tour of the LA Mission, a 56,000-square-foot hotels in alajuela costa rica facility that includes a dining hall, a waiting area, a barbershop, and a basketball court. The L.A Mission has 446 beds, serves 575,000 meals per year, and boasts hotels in alajuela costa rica 1,743 UTI graduates.
"In October 2010 I graduated from the program and since that time I was hired on call for special events, what have you. I've been doing that since I graduated. I was also hired by the Skid Row Development Corporation. I worked for them for eight months but due to budget cuts our program was cut significantly. I was invited back when they regained funding, but by then I had an offer here, so I stayed. I am blessed with a full time job here at the LA Mission, in career services.
I work with Allen Ceravolo who is the Director of Career Services and he is also the chaplain hotels in alajuela costa rica for Work Start participants who have graduated and are transitioning into employment or affordable hotels in alajuela costa rica housing. I help on the administrative side, putting together reports and things like that. I work closely with our students to navigate the web, look for a job, search locations, giving them encouragement, hotels in alajuela costa rica helping them with resumes, helping hotels in alajuela costa rica them answer questions appropriately on job applications. So, my assistance here is to students and to support Mr. Ceravolo.
I had a pretty stable life but then I got into some problems that are too deep to really go into detail. hotels in alajuela costa rica I also went through some medical hotels in alajuela costa rica issues. I had a total knee replacement. About four years prior to coming here I was undergoing surgeries and recuperating from all that. It's pretty traumatic when you have them back-to-back, hotels in alajuela costa rica so I had to have them spaced out. I found myself unemployed and I needed to get focused personally. I wanted to reconcile with myself, with my family, my community, and with God. My family was supportive, but I needed to get out on my own.
I came to Los Angeles from Central California, though I was raised in Southern California. I came here to get redirected. I don't have any addictions but really needed to get refocused. I felt hopeless, helpless, worthless, due to my past. I got here to L.A., my family dropped me off, and they really didn't want to do that, but I had a suitcase and some money in my pocket and went around the various missions. I was having trouble getting a place to sleep when I came around the corner and saw the cross on top of the building. I felt emotionally and spiritually charged, feeling that this was where I was supposed to be. I was able to get a temporary bed immediately. I was lucky because it can be hard to find an available bed.
The Jump Start program [the first 30 days of the UTI] helps people decide if they want change in their lives, if they desire a new direction. And that's what I wanted: a new foundation in life. I had always been a believer, but faltered in my faith and in life and I wanted to be stable and gain balance.
The L.A. Mission provides an island of protection. A person is nurtured by their chaplain. We have a gated area, it's clean, there's food, there are clean clothes, fresh linen on the beds, there's counseling, there's mentoring. hotels in alajuela costa rica We work with the Joshua hotels in alajuela costa rica House Clinic so our participants can get their basic health care needs. Our friends and neighbors, as we call those homeless individuals in the area, are able to get a bed for two weeks at a time and then they take a week off before they can get a bed again so that other people can have a chance. The L.A. Mission also develops partners with corporations and organizations to employ our people. We prepare our students to be able to go into the workforce by offering workshops that teach employment preparedness.
The most urgent needs here in Skid Row are very basic. We need more mental health services, more public restrooms, more sources for clean drinking water. After the missions close, there are no restrooms around. Where do you use a restroom downtown? And the issue is that there are very few public restrooms and sometimes they are not functioning, or people are afraid to use them because there are people hanging around and they're afraid they might get hurt.
It's a funny story how I learned about Cornerstone. I attend New City Church Los Angeles and we have our Sunday services at LATC [Los Angeles Theatre Center]. And Cornerstone's table was there because they were preparing for a show and oen of the ushers hotels in alajuela costa rica behind the table gave me a flier and told me about the show, "Café Vida" [Cornerstone's collaboration with Homeboy Industries]. At the time I didn't have money and they told me that the tickets were Pay-What-You-Can. hotels in alajuela costa rica And I thought that was great. I didn't have anything to do, so I went to the box office, and they were already open, and I had five dollars, so I got myself a ticket. hotels in alajuela costa rica That was the first night.
I thought it was fantastic. It had a great story line. The whole feel of it, the reality of live theater, the emotion of it. You really got into "Café Vida" -- the fun stuff, the ugly stuff. I met Raquel Gutierrez [then Cornerstone's Manager of Community Partnerships] and we totally hit it off, just instantly. So I saw her once in a while and I came closing night. The crispness and timing of the cast by the end of the run -- it wasn't bad in the beginning -- but you saw an emotional, physical, timing change, the vocals. And that's life! You start something, you try something different and you get better. We have this thing called "santification" in Christianity, which means you get closer and closer to Christ and we never reach that on this earth, but we approach it until we go to heaven. I saw that the cast was growing and becoming stronger and that really struck me. I related it to myself and to our program -- how people come here, and they may have been on drugs for years and they are sick and tired and then they progressively get healthy. And "Café Vida" reminded me of that.
Then Cornerstone hosted "Love On San Pedro" story circles hotels in alajuela costa rica here at the L.A. Mission and Raquel arranged for James McManus ["Love On San Pedro" hotels in alajuela costa rica playwright] to visit and meet some participants. James is a great guy. You think, here's this playwright coming from New York, from the New Dramatists -- and I did some research on him--but the guy is just so down to earth. It was such a neat experience to meet him and get to know him. So we did these story circles and Raquel facilitated tickets and transportation for those involved in the story circles to go watch Cornerstone's play "Seed: A Weird Act of Faith." So our relationship was not only for "Love On San Pedro," but we also were part of the Cornerstone community beforehand. And when Raquel left I met Paula [Cornerstone's Director of Engagement] and a number of Cornerstone employees came to volunteer for a career fair we had. That was great, and our relationship hotels in alajuela costa rica grew.
So now the L.A. Mission is the venue for "Love On San Pedro." hotels in alajuela costa rica And it's a big project, but God will provide. And we'll be partners in getting out the message of this play, which in an awesome message: people are people. hotels in alajuela costa rica Too many people, when they hear "Skid Row" they think of dirty people on drugs, driving a shopping cart down the street. That's their idea of what this is, and their only idea of what this is. Skid Row is a place you stay away from. But there are people here, people who are going through struggles in their lives and are seeking help, or can't because their spirits are just devastated, or they are illiterate or undocumented and don't know how to get help. What this play is doing is saying, hotels in alajuela costa rica "hey look at us, we are real people, with real issues and we have real emotions."
James has taken real people, or a combination of real people, and given these characters a real sense of authenticity. And you see them change and grow in the play. So audiences will get a chance to see what Skid Row is all about, right here in Skid Row. And we pray that people will not stay away to avoid this reality. This is a great, safe venue.
Janine Betts is a member of the cast of Cornerstone Theater's Love On San Pedro. She is a very busy woman, intelligent, articulate, and driven. I met with her after a long day, and she gracefully spoke to me with candidness about her life's story and about her future hotels in alajuela costa rica goals. She's demanding of herself hotels in alajuela costa rica and of others and she is protective of her emotional space. She