ABOUT US

The Grrl Action program began in 1999 as a summer workshop in creative writing and performance designed to empower girls between the ages of 13 and 16 to find their public voices and build confidence while collaborating with young women from diverse socio-economic and cultural backgrounds.

In fall 2007, after eight years of success, Grrl Action expanded its mission, and added a year-round performance-based artistic education program. Grrl Action now enables young women from 13 to 18 to plan and execute individual, long-term artistic projects, working across the disciplines, alongside professional female artists as their mentors.

Grrl Action participants now can expand their practice beyond the theatre space and into their everyday lives and communities, making them not only better writers and performers, but better citizens, activists, and role models. Engaging them through collectivity and community involvement, Grrl Action inspires young women to widen and transcend the definition of what it means to be an artist.

Our Mission: 

To help teenage girls find voice and vision through the power of performance.

Our Vision:

We see teenage girls realizing their potential as artists, critical thinkers and powerful role models.

Our Guiding Principles:

• Engagement with the arts
• Creative problem solving
• Social responsibility
• Self-respect
• Tolerance

Our Staff:

CARRIE FOUNTAIN | GRRL ACTION CO-MANAGING PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Carrie Fountain, MFA, whose graduate studies and professional experience include performance, theater for youth, creative writing pedagogy, and arts education is Grrl Action Co-managing Program Director. She has been on Grrl Action’s creative writing faculty since 2004.

Carrie has taught poetry, fiction and dramatic writing for Badgerdog Literary Publishing, The Blanton Museum of Art, New Braunfels Museum of Art and Music, Austin Waldorf School, Gemini Ink, and regularly leads writing workshops in Austin elementary, mid- and high schools.  A former James A. Michener fellow at the University of Texas, Carrie has received numerous awards for her poetry. Originally from New Mexico, she has taught second grade in Albuquerque’s south valley, toured the Four Corners area teaching theater workshops to kids in rural areas and on reservations with Creede Repertory Theater, and taught performing arts and writing to adults with disabilities for Very Special Arts New Mexico.  Aside from her work with Grrl Action, Fountain is Adjunct Professor of Creative Writing at Austin Community College and is Poetry Columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.

 

SARAH MYERS | GRRL ACTION CO-MANAGING PROGRAM DIRECTOR

Sarah Myers, MFA, whose graduate studies and professional development have included drama and theatre for youth, community-based theatre, playwriting pedagogy, and girls’ cultural studies, is Grrl Action Co-managing Program Director.

Sarah has facilitated playwriting and drama-based workshops for Theatre Action Project, St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Very Special Arts of Texas, Texas Youthful Creations, River City Youth Foundation, and the American Alliance for Theatre and Education. Before moving to Texas, she taught high school English and Theatre and directed productions for the community-based organization Sunflower County Freedom Project in rural Mississippi. She currently teaches undergraduate voice and acting classes as a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin. This year she was named Winifred Ward Scholar, the highest honor given to a graduate student in the field of Drama and Theater for Youth.  She has been Grrl Action Summer Program Coordinator since 2004 and a Grrl Action faculty member since 2006.