The Los Angeles Poverty Department (LAPD) is a Los Angeles-based performance group closely tied to the city's Skid Row neighborhood. Founded in 1985 by director and activist John Malpede, LAPD members are mostly homeless or formerly homeless people who collaborate with advocates, social service professionals and community members to create performances and multimedia art that highlight connections between their lived experiences and external forces that impact their lives. Performance artist John Malpede moved to Los Angeles from New York in 1984 to start work as an outreach paralegal at the Inner City Law Center (ICLC). He began leading theater workshops for the neighborhood's homeless population out of the ICLC's offices on Skid Row, gathering a group of performers and artists who now create their art as the Los Angeles Poverty Department (the acronym, LAPD, is a deliberate appropriation of that of the Los Angeles Police Department). At the time it was founded, the LAPD was the first theater by and for homeless people in the country and the first arts-based initiative for the Los Angeles homeless population. Since its inception, the LAPD has been dedicated to giving expression to the homeless community's struggle to create meaning out of their own lives and to avoid a sentimentalized or stereotyped narrative of victimization. Material is often developed and rehearsed through community workshops and feedback sessions, continually evolving through conversation with the community. The ultimate enactment of ensemble members' lives in front of an audience seeks to transform the audience into witnesses rather than spectators. More information...
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