"Freedom recognizes a person for being human, and not for any other aspect or characteristic of them."

STELLA BAKER

Simply Q is a new charity - the only one of its kind in the United Kingdom - which is the parent charity of a subsidiary, activist, non-profit fringe theatre company known simply as Q.

Simply Q is a charity much needed in society, and in the local community, in that it deals with social exclusion, social stigma and individual human rights.

What Simply Q does is very simple. It uses modern fringe theatre as a means of social and community reform to bring people affected by social stigma and social exclusion back into the community and into society, helping them to make a fresh start in life and overcome the difficulties, issues and problems which prevent them from functioning independently in society.

Simply Q works in partnership with other charities, organizations, institutions to gain access to socially excluded people who have been shut out of mainstream society. Simply Q runs a series of participant-centred theatre workshops with a production run and managed by professional actors and directors from fringe theatre who work with disaffected people, providing them with a solid support network and meaningful occupation, to enable them to make a fresh start in life and gather the self-confidence, strength and motivation to achieve their own indepedence and rebuild their own livelihood.

The projects run from a minimum period of 12 weeks, they are challenging, fun, stimulating, and above all successful. There is no experience which is as life-changing, memorable, or as effective in overcoming social stigma and social exclusion as taking part in a theatre workshop and production.

The projects are highly successful, extremely effective, for not only do they inspire and motivate those affected to make a fresh start, they also serve to reduce public spending and use of resources spent.

We let our statistics speak for themselves. For every £20 spent on a Simply Q project an estimated £150 is saved in public spending. 95% of our participants with substance misuse issues (drugs and alcohol) have not only stopped misusing drugs and alcohol but have remained clean ever since. 90% of those who have taken part in our projects among the homeless have been resettled and have found their way into sustainable employment.

It's amazing what can be achieved when you give someone a chance.

THE FOUNDER - STELLA BAKER

The founder of Simply Q is Stella Baker, a fringe playwright, stage director, charity worker and social activist.. Simply Q came about as a result of her decision to devote her works, her theory of modern fringe theatre and her methodology for the public good and to form a charity based on the pattern of her earlier projects and her work in Polish theatre between 1995 and 2005. Formerly known as Mark Bates, Stella Baker is the UK's first and only transgendered female fringe playwright and comes as a result of a struggle for social acceptance during her transition.

It was during this transition, when in Poland she came out publicly in support of equality for Polish gays, lesbians and transfolk which caused widespread shock in Poland, and her experiences from her subsequent downfall from being arguably the most popular and influential playwright in modern Polish theatre and who had successfully transformed Polish alternative theatre, managing to introduce the concept of fringe theatre to Poland.

It was her experiences of being street homeless, cast out of society, and also being subjected to harrassment and abuse from government agencies as well as discrimination and prejudice which led her to start developing Simply Q early in 2007. This was inspired by some experimental workshops she ran as a volunteer in 2006 whilst living in a St Mungo's hostel for the homeless in Hackney, East London, which were hugely successful and since then she has worked tirelessly to develop both this charity Simply Q and the subsidiary non-profit theatre Q which is based in South West London behind Battersea Power Station.

Stella runs Simply Q single-handedly as a missionary aided by the professional actors who work with her in Q.

THE ADMINISTRATION AND PRODUCTION BASE OF SIMPLY Q

Since late 2008 the production and administration base for all Simply Q projects and productions is a dedicated team of professional actors who work together to develop and manage projects with our beneficiaries, putting together workshops and running productions. Through their work in Q theatre they also work to promote the charity and to raise funds for the charity through their own performances.

Without this dedicated team of theatre professionals no Simply Q project or production would be possible and all projects are managed and run in a way to be as economical and efficient as possible without incurring unnecessary administration or production costs. Simply Q doesn't rent expensive office space, it doesn't purchase advertising, therefore almost all the income from donations goes directly to the people who need it the most - the beneficiaries.