Local teens are sharing their stories and engaging the community in big questions. What if you could rehearse your life before it happened? Test out different decisions, make many choices, ask a caring crowd for good ideas?
That’s the premise behind GAP Theatre, a different kind of theatre created and performed by youth from the Kootenays.
A group of local teens share stories from their lives and invite the audience to join them in “rehearsals for life,” an interactive process of testing out different strategies for dealing with the struggles that face them. It’s entertaining, intriguing, collective problem solving; theatre written and facilitated by teenagers.
On Sunday, May 4 at 7 p.m., at the Nelson and District Youth Centre, a group of GAP actors from Salmo will be performing Dad’s Back, a play that explores what happens when a parent gets back from doing time in prison.
This event is a part of BC-wide Youth Week events.
On Tuesday, May 6, a group of Castlegar youth will be sharing two plays: The Power of Three and Burning Bridges, which explore sexuality, gender identity, friendship and cyber bullying. That performance takes place at Stanley Humphries Secondary School in Castlegar at 6 p.m.
The Gender Action Project (GAP), now in its third year, is a project of the Nelson and District Women’s Centre. Facilitators, supported by youth counsellors from Salmo and Castlegar, work with a group of youth aged 14 to 19 to develop theatre and improv skills, explore gender-based oppression and the struggles they face, and eventually, to create these pieces of forum theatre to share with their communities.
This performance is for anyone who cares about the lives of teens in the region. It contains strong language and mature subject matter, so a teenage or older audience is suggested. Admission is by donation to the Nelson and District Women’s Centre.
For more information on the project, call Marya at 250-226-7311 or 250-51-6337, or email gaptheatre@nelsonwomenscentre.com.