The Voices of Our City Choir, a group of homeless and formerly homeless San Diego people, is slated to give two live readings April 14 from its new play, “This Time.” It’s about life on the streets.
The choir got national attention in 2020 when it auditioned on the season premiere of America’s Got Talent, garnering the Golden Buzzer for an original song, “Sounds of the Sidewalk.” Since then the choir has given more than 100 public performances at San Diego area venues.
The choir is the centerpiece of a national documentary, “The Homeless Chorus Speaks,” directed by Susan Polis Schutz, which originally aired on PBS television in 2018.
The County of San Diego declared June 2 as Voices of Our City Choir day.
This performance will feature a play with music that the choir wrote based on their experiences of being homeless. The show is put on in partnership with La Jolla Playhouse and San Diego’s Moxie Theatre.
The choir, which is made up of more than 100 active choir members, meets weekly for rehearsals with an award-winning jazz soul band. The rehearsals are a time for singing as much as for camaraderie and a chance to pull out of their current situations and find mutual encouragement.
The Voices of Our City Choir had its beginnings in 2016 on the streets of San Diego. While musician and jazz vocalist Steph Johnson was organizing outreach to help homeless folks with food, clothing, blankets and friendship, she found out that many were artists and musicians with no place to share their creativity.
Johnson met Pastor Chris Nafis, who offered his church in a warehouse in East Village, as a gathering place. A woman she met living on the street had been a singer in a choir for homeless people in Chicago. Knowing the power of music and singing in community, Johnson wanted to try to offer a way for homeless San Diegans to sing together.
Nina Deering became choir director and co-founded Voices of Our City Choir. She died in 2020.
In 2022, the nonprofit expanded its homeless outreach services to offer a hot shower in partnership with Humanity Showers and to help find permanent housing along with creative and wellness workshops. The choir offers creative programs four times a week.
Weekly rehearsals Monday at 11 a.m. are open to anyone at St. Paul’s Episcopal Cathedral 2728 Sixth Ave. in San Diego, and include lunch.
“We’re providing a place of joy, where people can sing and laugh with each other and rebuild their lives — a place where they have a sense of belonging, where they can be in community with people who walked in their shoes and journeyed out of homelessness,” said Lindsey Seegers, executive director of Voices of Our City.
The free performances at 2 and 6 p.m. April 14 are open to the community at Moxie Theatre, at the Aztec Shopping Center, 6663 El Cajon Blvd. Limited tickets are available at https://www.voicesofourcity.org/.