Alumni Profiles
Greg Shane ’98
“I can’t say enough about the impact Crossroads has had on my professional career.”
When Greg Shane ’98 was a student at Crossroads, he was known as a soccer player, a strong student and a magician. But the School also influenced what he does now: running a theater company for blind and autistic actors, directing veterans in original plays and creating an arts nonprofit, CRE Outreach, that touches the lives of hundreds of students.
“Crossroads taught me to think outside the box and problem solve effectively,” he says. “It encouraged values of compassion and understanding. I can’t say enough about the impact Crossroads has had on my professional career.”
After graduating from Tulane University with a degree in theater, Greg returned to Southern California and volunteered in a program with visually impaired people. As their director, he developed a braille-for-feet format for his actors to use on stage. Out of that experiment, he created Theatre by the Blind. Meanwhile, his volunteer experiences with a theater program in Inglewood morphed into CRE (Create Reflect Empower), which brings performing arts to underserved populations.
While pursuing a master’s degree through the NYU Steinhardt School of Education, Greg studied in Brazil with Augusto Boal and the Theatre of the Oppressed, at Trinity College Dublin and with the Complicité company in London.
Upon returning to Los Angeles in 2006, Greg took up his work with Theatre by the Blind and CRE. Today, his organization partners with the U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs, the Lake Street Community Center near Echo Park, the Braille Institute, Wayfinder Family Services and the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In 2018, Greg transformed a rundown karate studio in Culver City into The Blue Door Theatre. In 2019, CRE produced an all-veteran play, “Silent Torment,” and received a grant to stage a Theatre by the Blind production at the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
Greg is grateful for his family and his incredible support team, which includes Crossroads alumni. He is married and is stepfather to a 9-year-old boy. For more information about CRE Outreach, visit CREoutreach.org or email Greg at CRE@CREoutreach.org.
