News & Events
We thank the Arts Council Greater New Haven for helping amplify the work of The Interruption Project. Explore stories, events, and community impact as we work to disrupt silence, inspire healing, and create meaningful change.
A Path To Healing, As "Letters To My Son"
LEAPs Into The Spotlight
Solé Scott | March 9th, 2026
Inherited trauma is not talked about enough in the Black community.
But when is enough, enough? And how can people find a path to healing?
That question took center stage at the Dixwell Community “Q” House on a recent Thursday, as the Rev. Dr. Odell Montgomery Cooper and Yale University’s Deborah Stanley-McAulay co-hosted a dinner and dialogue as part of the 31st annual LEAP Year Event. Part dinner discussion and part fundraiser, the evening raised over $600,000 for Leadership, Education & Athletics in Partnership (LEAP), which provides after-school activities to hundreds of students across New Haven. [...]
read more on newhavenarts.org
Lives “Interrupted”
Find Space To Heal
Lucy Gellman & Abiba Biao | October 6th, 2022
The stories filled the room one by one, thick and heavy in the air. Two sons, stolen long before their time in two separate acts of gun violence. A young woman killed in her mother’s driveway by a weapon of war. An adult who withstood childhood sexual abuse to protect her siblings. A detective whose quick assumptions about a victim stayed with him—and are now changing policing in Hamden.
All of them were interruptions. All of them led to the same room on Edgewood Av
enue, where dozens gathered with the hope of healing. By the end of a single afternoon, all of them had opened the door to new ways to talk about trauma. [...]
read more on newhavenarts.org
"Interruptions" Breaks Through
The Silence And Stigma Of Gun Violence
Lucy Gellman | August 21st, 2020
A woman takes center stage, eyes wide and trusting. Something sits heavy in her arms and legs, the way she holds her neck. Is it grief? Stress? She speaks: her son has been gunned down in an act of senseless violence. One year later, on what would have been his 26th birthday, she suffered a brain aneurysm that almost ended her life. And yet she is still here, standing before the audience.
The woman is the Rev. Odell Montgomery Cooper, one of the artistic forces behind Interruptions: Disrupting The Silence as it films at Bregamos Community Theater this week. The work is based on Cooper’s life after the murder of her 25-year-old son Jonathan, who was shot to death on Dixwell Avenue four years ago, while he was stopped at a traffic light. [...]
read more on newhavenarts.org
A "Healing Ministry" Celebrates
Five Years
Lucy Gellman | September 19th, 2025
When Valerie Tanner got the call that her 22-year-old son, Kaymar, had been shot and killed on Newhall Street, her world stopped. It was the middle of July, just before sundown in New Haven. She was at a niece’s birthday party, surrounded by the joyful noise of someone making another trip around the sun. And at 6:26 p.m., when she picked up the phone, her life was cleaved into two halves.
She tried multiple forms of therapy, from online counseling to E.M.D.R. She prayed. She wondered if she would ever feel able to move forward. Then she walked into a house of worship, and found a mentorship program designed around addressing, discussing, and destigmatizing trauma. [...]
read more on newhavenarts.org
"Let's Talk" Provides
A Peer-To-Peer Framework For Healing
Lucy Gellman | April 23rd, 2021
Rev. Odell Montgomery Cooper turned to the stage when she wanted to share the story of her grief. Now, she’s training city residents to open their ears—and their minds—to a community reeling from Covid-19, police brutality, gun violence, and an inequitable public health system.
Cooper is the mind behind “Let's Talk,” a new peer-to-peer mentorship program that teaches community members to identify, address, discuss and seek treatment for depression, anxiety, grief, and trauma. The program, which is currently in its pilot stages, is presented in collaboration with Clifford Beers, Dixwell United Church of Christ, and the William Caspar Graustein Memorial Fund [...]
read more on newhavenarts.org
The Interruption Project
Upcoming Events
There are no upcoming events to share just yet, but exciting opportunities are on the horizon. The Interruption Project will soon launch the Interruption Institute Leadership Academy, along with additional programs designed to support healing, resilience, and community connection. Join our mailing list below to be the first to hear about upcoming programs, events, and ways to get involved.