Flint Youth Theatre
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...My Soul to Take |
Project Description
Flint Youth Theatre produced . . . My Soul to Take, an original theatre piece motivated by school shootings in Flint, Littleton, and other cities. Employing an abstract and presentational staging and visual style, the production combined monologues, choral passages, music, and dances to create shifting realities that reveal the perspectives of victims, witnesses, and perpetrators of youth violence. Community dialogue occurred over seven months in independent but inter-related activities. To develop the script, Flint Youth Theatre engaged theater artist Gillian Eaton to work with students and adults in "process drama" sessions that sought to illuminate the issue of youth violence and evoke response through drama. The National Center for Community Education, with assistance from the Study Circles Resource Center, coordinated study circles on youth violence weeks before and after the production, involving over 100 people in dialogue about the causes and effects of youth violence as well as action opportunities. Audience dialogues were planned after selected performances. A student conference with urban and suburban students and teachers and a symposium of scholars and researchers at University of Michigan-Flint furthered dialogue among targeted populations. . . . My Soul to Take provided an opportunity for sustained and varied approaches to community-wide dialogue on a critical local and national issue.
