Formerly incarcerated performers take the stage at Berkeley Rep
Once incarcerated and now standing beneath the lights of an iconic Bay Area stage, Anthony Michael Puthuff is telling his story on his own terms.
Puthuff is one of the featured performers in the Formerly Incarcerated Peoples Performance Project (FIPPP), a storytelling festival now onstage at Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The project centers the lived experiences of people who are formerly incarcerated, inviting them to perform personal narratives that challenge stereotypes and offer a more complex view of the justice system and the people affected by it.
"It's surreal to be here doing an interview," Puthuff said. "The last time I was on the news, it was in a different context and it wasn't so flattering, so it's really an honor to be here right now and be able to share with the world who I really am."
The FIPPP festival aims to disrupt dominant narratives around incarceration by placing formerly incarcerated people at the center of the story — not as statistics, but as artists and community members. Performers develop and present original work that explores their histories, accountability, and transformation.
Before his legal troubles, Puthuff traces the roots of his past, describing a childhood marked by instability and the absence of positive role models.
"I grew up in a single-mother, single-parent household," he said. "My father was an alcoholic. My parents divorced when I was very young. My mom did her best, but she struggled with her own mental health and addiction issues. There was really no structure or discipline as a young man growing up. I really didn't have a positive male role model, and so I acted out."
The festival is produced and co-directed by Mark Kenward, who says the project helps bring society together in a time when divides seem to increasingly separate communities. He believes it is the misunderstood stories that deserve the limelight even more.
"They've seen a lot of things, done a lot of things," Kenward said. "And now they're here sharing their stories, and it's really life-affirming, I find."
A prior FIPPP storyteller, Freddy Lee Johnson, says the process of preparing and performing the work is deeply personal.
"It was very therapeutic, because I try not to be seen," Johnson said.
Kenward says visibility is a crucial part of healing, both for performers and audiences.
For Puthuff, stepping onto the Berkeley Rep stage represents more than artistic expression. It is full-circle empowerment.
"It's more validation that individuals like myself, like no matter the circumstances we go through, that we are redeemable and that transformation is possible," he said.
The FIPPP festival continues its run at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre through Sunday evening.