Sofa
Stories
Sofa Stories uses live theatre and digital media to amplify the stories of young people impacted by housing insecurity or homelessness who may have resorted to couch-surfing as a means to survive.
Featuring monologues created in collaboration with those who have experienced homelessness, housing activists, and community artists, the project aims to bring attention to an often invisible crisis and imagine a world without youth homelessness.
The first phase of Sofa Stories began in partnership with the Detroit Phoenix Center, where the project team worked with youth participants to create a series of original monologues inspired by their collective experiences with housing insecurity. Performances took place in August and September 2021 in outdoor locations across Detroit. Each monologue was staged in an intimate format: actors performed on sofas placed in public spaces, with each piece delivered to an individual audience member or pair, followed by facilitated conversations led by youth from the Detroit Phoenix Center. A companion series of short films premiered in 2022.
The second phase of the project, Sofa Stories: OUTside, launched in 2023 and focused on the experiences of LGBTQ+ youth facing homelessness. Each participant was paired with a professional writer to collaboratively develop a monologue that reflected their story and voice. This phase originally premiered at the Detroit Public Theatre as part of the Third Avenue Garage (TAG) Residency program in June 2023, and was later presented at outdoor events across Detroit, including the Sidewalk Festival and Dally in the Alley. Short films adapted from these monologues are available to view below.
Spend a Day
By Eboni Williams & Shawntai McCall-Brown
A Permanent Spot
By Gil Hall & Andrew Morton
Lessons Left Untitled
By Kemira Earnest & Alex Reed
Growing Up Wasn’t So Easy
By Mari Earnest & Matt Harmon
Worth While
By Daria D. Nimbee
If It’s Meant To Be
By Sasha Cain & Cam Blackwell
Since its inception, Sofa Stories has been presented at community-centered events and arts venues such as Detroit Public Theatre, Matrix Theatre Company, and the Allied Media Conference, and has received local and national media attention in outlets including Michigan Public, Hour Detroit, The Detroit Free Press, USA Today, and Broadway World. Core community partners and collaborators have included the Detroit Phoenix Center, Covenant House Michigan, Ozone House, and the Ruth Ellis Center.
Sofa Stories was originally funded through a 2019 Knight Arts Challenge Detroit grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and has since received additional support from Michigan Humanities and the Inclusive Arts Fund at the Community Foundation of Southeast Michigan. In 2024, the project was honored with the TYA/USA Community Impact Award at the national TYA/USA Conference in Bethesda, Maryland. The project continues to evolve as part of Every Soul Arts’ broader mission to raise awareness of housing insecurity, elevate youth voices, and imagine a world without youth homelessness.