a performance project in which seven KCC students who have experienced challenges in getting a college education will be performing monologues about their experiences.

There will be two performances.  The first will be in Building Seven, on the KCC campus, on Thursday, May 16th, at 5 pm. The second will be at the First Presbyterian Church, which is at 601 Pine Street, in downtown Klamath Falls, on Sunday, May 19th at 2 pm.

Attendance at both performances is free of charge and a reception will follow each of the performances.

The seven students participating in the project have experienced a range of serious challenges, which have made it difficult for them to consider attending college as well as staying in college.  Among those challenges are physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and asthma, mental disabilities such as bipolar disease, depression and anxiety, PTSD in the wake of service in the military, recovery from substance abuse, childhood and adult experiences involving physical abuse, being a non-native speaker of English and attending college as an older student.  Each of the performers has an inspiring story to tell about making a very real success of college in spite of these challenges.  Each anticipates a bright future. 

Klamath Community College gratefully acknowledges grants from the Oregon Arts Commission and from the Klamath County Cultural Coalition, which have funded the project along with the Klamath Community College Foundation.

The Project Facilitator is Carol Imani, who has been a community college writing instructor for twenty-five years. She has also overseen two similar writing and performance projects, With You on the Journey (in which family members of people in prison told their stories) and Shaping a Future (in which individuals newly out of prison presented monologues about why they went to prison, life in prison, and how they are adjusting to life after prison). 

Chip Massie, who is the Acting Vice President of External Affairs at Klamath Community College, and who has directed community theater productions in Klamath Falls for over twenty years, directs the project.