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The sight of a homeless person is quite familiar to the St. Joan’s community. Upon arriving to our Sunday masses at 3rd Avenue and 45th Street, it’s pretty much a guarantee that you will encounter someone strategically placed at each corner after the 46th street exit, holding a sign and panhandling for some spare change or a few bucks for food. One might be compelled, after a sigh of resignation, to give them a buck or a five to tide them over. Others, tired of their continual presence, stoically show a face of indifference to them and hurry on bye. The fact remains: their presence will never go away because someone else will soon take their place. Homelessness is here to stay. What is the right thing to do?
One sobering statistic might wake people up and reconsider their own thoughts about being without a home. 30% of homeless adults are working—13% are working full time. How many people are just one or two pay checks away from missing payment of their own mortgage? The majority of people have to work to make their ends meet. The reality is that becoming a homeless person can become frighteningly too close to home for us than we care to admit.
The zAmya Theater Project, www.zamyatheater.org/ passionately pursues in their mission to increase awareness, understanding and advocacy for the homeless through community based theater. What an enlightened experience it was to witness what they accomplished through a performance. Take “Ten You Win/Ten You Lose” recently performed at St. Stephen’s Church in South Minneapolis on November 13th. The rehearsal process involved a six week workshop with various members of a homeless community mixed with actors. The goal is to get people to share their stories, their hardships and struggles. Advocacy programs intermingled with the group to come to terms with the core problem of what to do about such a disparaging situation. The solution may be hopelessly complex but bringing awareness to the public is essential. The solution might be in the prevention. But if you’re left to fend on the streets by yourself, transitional housing may provide the answer to getting back on one’s own feet.
zAyma (the Sanskrit definition means “aiming at peace”) Theater Project’s Executive Director Lecia Grossman paired with Bedlam Theater artist/director Maren Ward to conceive workshops that work with the homeless; the end results culminate in presenting a theater performance of the participant’s collective stories. Playwright Joseph Evans drafted a script for “Ten” that doesn’t preach but interweaves effective story telling from ten people. Through flashbacks, narration, future forecasts, proposals, song, rapping, movement, imagery and creative hyperbole, we see the past, present and future of what it means to give in to hopelessness and what it takes to survive the aftermath of its consequences.
The play takes place in the year 2016. Everybody has become relentlessly cheerful robots. WCCO News has announced the elimination of homelessness. Yes, the last homeless person has been found. Our newscasters, Don Shelby, now black (a superbly resonant voiced Corey Walton) and Amelia Santinello (Melissa Wilson) vacuously speed along while reciting the news: Looking back on a past event in 2006, Don retorts, “Has it really been that long.” Amelia glibly responds, “I don’t know, Don. I have no concept of time.” Our mayor is none other than Prince (the female actor Maryca, who croons a soulful verse of “Purple Rain’).
Director Maren Ward, frequently broke the fourth wall of theater, so to speak, by appearing to disrupt the action. Actors whined about the silly premise of their situations, then a series of flashbacks brought the story into perspective, including some evocatively staged movement from the actors that formed tableaux-like imagery while one actor told his/her story in harrowing detail. Other times, Ward requested that members of the audience not be shy and simply volunteer to come up on stage. They were asked to respond silently to a series of statements she proposed. If you agreed to the statement, you stood to the left side of the stage; if you didn’t agree, you stood to the right. If uncertain, then you remained in the middle. This theatrical convention soon became quite the arresting visual. Not responding with a show of hands in the safe confines of the house, but right in front of you on stage, were roughly 20 members of the audience showing their opinions. The results were beguiling to say the least. Ward proposed us to respond to the following statements:
America is a free country.
The audience was clearly divided on this statement.
Shelter is a basic human need.
All agreed.
Shelter is a basic human right.
All agreed.
I am happy with my living situation.
Nine members disagreed while some were in the middle and some agreed.
Homelessness is a class issue.
The audience was divided on this statement.
I am scared of homeless people.
Three members agreed, five were in the middle, and the rest disagreed.
If you don’t want to be homeless, you don’t have to be.
All disagreed.
I will never be homeless.
The audience was divided on this statement.
There will always be homelessness.
Nine disagreed.
I contribute to the atmosphere that allows homelessness to occur.
One member disagreed.
I like the weather in Minneapolis.
People scrambled all over the stage.
The play resumed with the WCCO News bits, life on the MTC Bus Line and illuminating confessions about drug use: “Well, you know when there is no more crack than I’ll stop” and “21 days in a treatment center and you’ve been doing drugs for ten years. It just doesn’t work.” Well, desperation and hopelessness obviously prevail when it comes to a homeless crisis. What does seem to bring a ray of hope is the idea of prevention and transitional care housing. Two final statements were proposed to the audience. Several returned to the stage and responded.
I’m thinking about something a little different then I did tonight.
All agreed.
I want to do something to end homelessness.
All agreed.
This one hour length play followed with a series of Q & A responses between the director, the actors and the audience.
In responding to this play, I had to stop and think about my personal response to homeless people I encounter on the streets. From discussions tonight, one effective response can be to purchase a few gift certificates from Super America, Target, or a Walgreens, and carry them with you. Offering the needy an opportunity to buy a sandwich, fruit, milk, water, any immediate toiletries can make a huge difference. One actor from the play simply suggested in regards to what the public should do about panhandling, “Do what’s right for you in your heart at that time.” If you are not able to give, simply be kind to them and wish them well. I am often reminded of a song Bette Midler recorded on her debut album, recorded back in 1972, about not forgetting our elderly as we pass the streets. I feel the same sentiments perhaps apply to the homelessness even more.
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