As a laboratory for multi-disciplinary theater as a tool for personal transformation, The Medea Project: Theatre for Incarcerated Women/HIV Circle’s classes, workshops and productions bring visibility to social issues and to people who are often historically excluded, in particular BIPOC women. In its nearly 40 years of practice, The Medea Project continues to conduct its classes, workshops and productions for women who have been justice impacted, in recovery, and surviving trauma and stigma including particularly women from communities of color, and LGBTQ communities. The Medea Project’s future lies in sustaining and further developing its position as an arts organization whose primary focus is theater as medicine.

The Medea Project’s core workshops prioritize women in recovery to find their voice on the page and in practice on the stage. The Medea Project works collaboratively health institutions such as UCSF Women’s HIV Program, to provide a platform particularly for Black women to address and heal from the trauma of living with HIV. In 2022, the company contracted with the California Arts Council to train other artists and arts organizations in the “Medea Methodology” teaching the Medea technique working with justice-impacted and health-impacted communities. In 2016-2018 with funding from the California Arts Council Re-Entry Arts program, The Medea Project (as a project under Cultural Odyssey) conducted workshops in SF County Jail, including women from the Transgender Pod.

Within the company there are consistent training and teaching opportunities for members that center the BIPOC women, as well as those living with HIV, and those formerly incarcerated, in their development as workshop facilitators. For The Medea Project a commitment to racial equity is a core value, and is exemplified by the leadership roles within the company, the content of the performance work itself , and the communities that are served.