How I Got Over

In 2012, 15 residents of Washington, D.C.'s N Street Village—a program for homeless and formerly incarcerated women—collaborated with professionals from the Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts to create an original play about their lives called My Soul Looks Back in Wonder. Filmmaker Nicole Boxer's documentary chronicles the process, beginning with a 12-week storytelling workshop, as the women develop monologues and reveal stories they've never told before. Their histories of domestic and sexual violence, incest, rape, and addiction are harrowing and understandably difficult to talk about. Theatre Lab co-director Deb Gottesman is interviewed throughout about the excitement and challenges of mounting a production in three months with a completely amateur cast, while an acting coach, director, and scriptwriter shape the material and guide the players from initial telling through rehearsals and the emotional ups and downs, all leading up to a one-night-only Kennedy Center performance. Boxer effectively captures how art can be connected to healing, and how theater gives these women an opportunity to not only be heard but also to see themselves in a new light. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (M. Puffer-Rothenberg)