TRUST: Second Acts in Young Lives

“There is something hopeful in the act of creating a work of art.” -- David Feiner
Moving, intimate, and celebratory, TRUST follows the teenage actors of Chicago's Albany Park Theater Project as they transform through courage, storytelling and community. TRUST begins in a small theater as a group of teenage actors receive a standing ovation. The film then takes us back to the beginning, when Marlin, an 18-year-old Hondureña shares a little bit about her childhood with the company. It is a traumatic story. Amazing things unfold as the young actors transform the story into a daring, original play. TRUST is about creativity and the unexpected resources inside people who are often discounted because they are poor, young, or of color. APTP is a neighborhood theater project dedicated to helping young people reimagine their experiences on stage. Since 1997, APTP has created highly-skilled, artistic and transformative theater. And they do it with kids who never audition. APTP co-founder and artistic director David Feiner, who holds a masters degree from the Yale Graduate School of Drama, has a practiced method and he stays with the kids as they grow. The experience is truly artistic and transformational for the ensemble members.
Marlin’s is one of incredible struggle and pain, from enduring rape as young girl, to the difficult journey of immigrating to the U.S., to further abuse at the hands of her own brother, and finally to emancipation and overcoming substance addiction.
-- TRUST, Second Acts in Young Lives, a film by Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto