Street Spirits Theatre Company

On Sept 1, 2010 Street Spirits led a workshop and created a performance for the community of Mcleod Lake. Taking part from Street Spirits were Andrew,  Jayson, Mike, Teresa, Ashley, Shayla and Holly. We began the day at 6:30 AM picking up our team for the drive to the community. Construction crews on the highway delayed us a little. We arrived at 8:45 in the morning and began the workshop at 9:30. We had a mixed group or youth and adults taking part in theatre games and play creation processes. Our Street Spirits members took the lead in creating a play that reflected the concerns expressed by the workshop participants. Three community members also took roles in the performance. The play showed the experiences of a young woman named Jade dealing with her friend Raven who is trying to rally opposition to the building of a power dam that would flood the traditional territories of the McLeod Lake people. Jade is also dealing with her friend Anna who keeps trying to get her to drink and party with her, her grandmother who is overwhelmed trying to raise her grandchildren on her own, her brother Troy who drinks heavily and steals to support his drinking, her little sister Tory who gets left out of the picture and her cousin Mark who tries to help but doesn’t know what to do.   Jade becomes overwhelmed and can’t cope with it all. The play was created in six hours and performed in forum theatre that evening before an audience of community members. Audience members contributed potential solutions and strategies to deal with the problems in the play. Response was very positive with many potentiall workable solutions presented from community members.

On May 29 Street Spirits performed for the AIMHI dinner. A large group of people enjoyed a Street Spirits demonstration of our Workout Theatre process creating performances about racism and about eating disorders. Making the show very special were Elise, Amy, Ashley and Corbin.

On May 23 to 28 Street Spirits travelled to Bella Coola to conduct two days of workshop on issues related to suicide. Participants from the community informed a performance and took part in it along with out actors. The performance looked at some of the issues that cause people to want to harm themselves and the performance suggested ways to deal with those issues in a realistic way. Taking part from Street Spirits were Elise, Amy, Al, Pedro, Andrew and Corbin. When not taking part in the workshop we took in the sights in the area. One special place was the “wishing well”, a pond in a clearing fed by a very tall waterfall. The trip cost us two tires for the van but was well worth it.

On May 7 2010 Street Spirits provided a workshop for a youth conference in Kamloops, BC. We worked with young people to explore issues of concern in the world and did a demonstration of Workout theatre for the dinner in the evening. Taking part were Andrew, Bryn, Elise, Shayla, Breanna and Mike.

On April 23, 2010 Street Spirits provided a demonstration of Workout Theatre as part of an evening of variety performances sponsored by the White Rose Metaphysical Shop. Jayson, Mike, John, Krista and Teresa took part in creating a play about family violence from audience suggestions then involved the audience in brainstorming solutions to the problems of family violence. Reception from the community was powerful.

On April 16 2010 Street Spirits provided a performance of a new play about violence in schools to students at Ron Brent. This new play addresses issues such as violent text messaging, organized fighting, bullying in relationships and peer pressure. There were 80 students in the audience and involvement was lively. Taking part in the process for Street Spirits were Ashley, Shayla, Breanna and John.

On Wednesday March 24 2010 Street Spirits provided a performance of Shadow of a Scream, a play about the effects of sexual abuse, to the Urban Aboriginal  Justice  Society Workshop on Restorative and  Aboriginal Justice held at the Civic Centre. Taking part in the performance were Teresa, Amy, Ashley, Mike, Elise, Jay and John. Audience response was very positive with a lot of interventions and positive feedback.

On Saturday March 20 Street Spirits provided a Performative Inquiry workshop and a performance at the Terrace Little Theatre in Terrace BC. The project was organized by the BC Schizophrenia Society. Taking part from Street Spirits were Andrew, Ashley, Amy, Mike, John and Holly. Working with a group of people from Terrace we used theatre techniques to explore issues related to mental illness in the community. Problems that came up were the stigmas attached to being mentally ill, gaps in resources to help people dealing with mental illness and the need for support for families. The performance was created over a period of 8 hours with Street Spirits actors and participants in the workshop creating characters and stories to show the problems. We had an interested and engaged audience in the evening whose interventions highlighted the difficulties in dealing with illness  but also showed some meaningful ways to work through them. Of particular interest was the concept of developing support teams for families involving professionals, family members and friends.  Audence members also expressed a need for services accessible in the evening and on weekends and for more affordable housing for homeless and at risk for homelessness people. Participation was lively and thoughful. Many thanks to Terrace BCSS for organizing this event so effectively.

On Wednesday Mar 3, 2010 Street Spirits provided a performance about bullying and peer pressure to students at Blackburn school. About 150 students saw the play. Audience participation was good and the response to the content was excellent. Ashley, Mike, Brianne, John and Shayla were the performers for Street Spirits.

On Saturday February 27 Street Spirits presented a performance of Should’ve, Should’ve, Should’ve, a play about a young woman dealing with the breakdown of her family and building feelings of depression. In the cast were Mike, Ashley, Pedro, Jay, Elise and Shayla. Audience participation was good and the play was well received.