Chelsea High School

In 2004, Epic began working with Chelsea High School - a 1000 student vocational high school in Soho. In 2006-07 school year all 9th graders adapted Antigone and the senior class adapted and performed a new adaptation of An Enemy of the People. The after- school programs have included new adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet and Othello - that include both student writing and Epic professional artists as mentors.

Chelsea High School is funded by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) Empire State Partnership grant and the Department of Education with support for after-school programming from Creative Artists Agency and Lancôme.

"I just feel like Black history is not getting across to our young minds. I feel no regret for what I'm doing. A wise man once said, "Stand up for what you believe in," and that's what I'm doing. My fellow classmates and I refuse to be in this type of environment. So please don't look at us as bad kids or followers, but as young people that are strong- minded with good hearts. I'd rather start my own school than sit in a classroom all day and not learn about the great Martin Luther King, Jr., Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Madame C. J."
-student written scene, Chelsea High School 9th grade 2007