Wednesday 13 February 2008

Plays That Make You Go "Hmmmm..."

February 9th Show
Playwright Michael Miller discussed his play Touch the Sky. The play deals with the issue of American Negro slavery from the standpoint of Belle, a bi-racial woman freed at birth. How "free" is she really? Faced with the issue of Choice, Belle will realize what it means to be free. Micheal began working on what became Touch the Sky when his daughter Zora was a baby. Thirteen years and several successful theatre productions later, Zora was finally able to see "her play" on stage at the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People. Touch the Sky runs until March 1st.

The controversial play Born Ready/Smokescreen (Joseph Jomo Pierre/David Craig) running at Theatre Passe Muraille has some school boards thinking about whether or not their students should see the play (Toronto Star, Wed. Feb. 13). During our interview Philip Akin, Artistic Director of Obsidian Theatre Company talked about the possibility of controversy following the play about youth and gun violence, but stressed the need to depict on stage the honesty, language and situations facing youth today. We also discussed the need for young people interested in drama to attend theatre school and learn about the craft of acting, and the contributions of youth to the play as a result of the Risk Life Project (short vignettes by community youth that will run before each performance). Born Ready/Smokescreen runs until March 9th.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

RE: language in Born Ready. Why do people always focus on swearing in plays instead of the message of the play or whether the play is good? I haven't seen the play yet, but plan on checking it out. I don't often get a chance to see people my age on stage.--bgurl

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