In 2015 I started a creative writing workshop for gun violence survivors living in a long-term care facility on Roosevelt Island. The workshop evolved into the nonprofit initiative OPEN DOORS, and its members began making art and performing as the Reality Poets. As OPEN DOORS founding director, I produced the group’s first poetry anthology, original play, virtual arts journal, and the documentary feature FIRE THROUGH DRY GRASS. The film captures the Reality Poets’ survival and activism from inside their NYC nursing home during the pandemic. FIRE’s supporters include Ford Foundation/Just Films, IDA, and Sundance Documentary Fund. FIRE won the Jury Award for Best Feature Documentary at BlackStar Film Festival and had its broadcast premiere on PBS/POV. It was a New York Times Critic’s Pick.