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Most of the company's work is that of Forum Theatre, a technique of Augusto Boal's famous Theatre for the Oppressed. In Forum Theatre, after seeing the play all the way through once, the audience gets the chance to replace the protagonist and suggest - and act out - different choices in difficult situations. When presented with plays about homelessness, family, love, and addiction, this proved an impeccably affective way for Cardboard Citizens to engage their target homeless and ex-homeless audience. I watched during workshops and training weeks, open-mouthed, as vitally important dialogues began, sparked by moving theatre experiences.
For years, they've been offering all this exciting programming to and targeting their forum theatre productions at adults. Through working with Cardboard Citizens, countless adults with experience of homelessness were able to find a means of expressing themselves, with people willing to listen, and to help them create art they are proud of. The company is there to support them - anyone who attends a meeting or a workshop is automatically a "member" (much like PCP's philosophy, "once a player, always a player!") - not to mention help them find jobs they love. I was SO excited to be a part of this company (and shamlessly hounded the Youth & Employability Programs Project Director for an internship slot, which she apparently loved, thank goodness!).So, solid. Solid company, goals, work - what's missing? A youth program. Thankfully, last year, Carboard Citizens realized that homeless youth have vastly different experiences, needs, and priorities from homeless adults. Seems obvious, yes? But how often do we ignore teenagers, as some weird in-between age between child and "real person," where you're supposed to grow up, happy to be left alone? And what happens if you don't have the "given" of a family, or even a home, as a support system? Cardboard Citizens launched ACT NOW, a youth theatre collective to try to be a part of that support system - weekly theatre workshops as a structure, an outlet, a safe space and a community, with a final production at the end of each session so the young people could show everyone, and themselves, that not only were they making progress - building confidence, developing skills - but they were making art.
When I came to London in June, just in time for the third and final session of the ridiculously successful launch year, I had no idea what to expect from the directors and teaching artists - no concept of how they would make this seemingly amazing project come to fruition. I was partly worried because the first thing most people said to me when I said, "I'm working with homeless youth this summer," was, "Aww! You're so charitable!" I got angry, thinking, what does that have to do with it?! These young people have voices and minds, we just have to give them the space to use them! The young people themselves must often be met with this general patronizing air. And so when my boss told be I would be in the rehearsal room each afternoon, I was thrilled, and a little anxious.
At first, welcomed by the directors, I participated in the games and ensemble exercises, but I quickly realized that my voice would drastically alter the play they were making if I continued to contribute it, and it wasn't my show or my process. So I stepped out, and I took notes. Notes upon notes upon notes, noticing how the directors demanded a level of professionalism and energetic focus from the participants, whether or not their key (social) worker was ringing their cell phone; witnessing that the best work came out of troublemakers when it was their responsibility to lead their peers in staging their own story; realizing how important the 6-hour intensive rehearsals really were to a great many of the participants. They could speak there, and play, and test out ideas.
And then stories that ended up in the final play were the stories that they told, and that they needed to tell. And each performance, people listened, and were moved.
I became a fervent proponent of this project, and I proceeded to do everything I could to expand it and help it thrive, creating lesson plans for reflection, newsletters for youth communication, and Facebook-ing like crazy. Although I did a lot of other varied things at Cardboard Citizens this summer, being a part of that show-making process, just a teensy part of the whole of ACT NOW - because finishing the year-long sequence also gives you credits toward other classes and, eventually, certificates and degrees or even university or drama school - re-invigorated me to the possibilities of theatre that comes from a community, that works as a structure and a stepping stone to important, tangible things like jobs, education, relationships, public speaking skills, and confidence.
Even just the young people's energy, infectious as they celebrated making something awesome that they cared about, undeniably confirmed how important it is to take that first step and give people a space for expression and creation. Young people, who often feel their true selves, are stifled, are the LAST ones we should forget.And so I am excited to try my hand at new techniques, with a newfound energy emanating from my deep-rooted beliefs in theatre for, with, and by youth and communities. This Special Events Coordinator is unbelievably pumped to work through PCP and with inner-city high schoolers this fall to create some immediate, beautiful theatre. We hope you're getting excited too!
In hopes that I kept most of the British slang out of there, cheers!
Alyssa
Special Events Coordinator
Special Events Coordinator
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