Youth

Penumbra’s P.R.I.D.E. Program

Positive Racial Identity Development and Empowerment for Youth

Penumbra Theatre has long been recognized as a space where artists leverage authenticity, rigorous storytelling, and social activism to create powerful art. For nearly five decades, the organization has built deep trust and community by using theater as a tool for racial healing, truth telling, and cultural affirmation. That legacy grounds Penumbra’s youth work today and shapes how we engage young people, families, and educators in creative spaces that center identity, belonging, and collective responsibility.

P.R.I.D.E. (Positive Racial Identity Development and Empowerment) Summer is a three-week program led by Penumbra-trained teaching artists for children entering grades 3–5 and youth entering grades 9–11 in the 2026–2027 school year. It supports young people through a pivotal developmental journey: the formation of a racial and cultural sense of self. Our thoughtful, trauma-informed curriculum is designed to engage youth during critical stages of racial and cultural identity development, introducing healing-focused creative practices that support social, emotional, and somatic regulation, belonging, and healthy self-esteem.

While the program prioritizes racial identity development and supports racial healing, it is intersectional in nature, making room for emerging understandings of gender and gender identity, social class, place of origin and nationality, cognitive, emotional, and physical disabilities, and religious differences. P.R.I.D.E. ensures that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to experience a sense of rootedness in themselves and in the world.

Daily lunches and snacks are included with registration. Questions? Please contact our youth engagement team at youth@penumbratheatre.org.