Four young people put Perth on the national map last week at a large Ottawa gathering, the Youth Centres Canada conference, with their performance of “Listen Up, Perth!”, a new play that will premiere locally at the Perth Legion on Saturday, April 18 at 2 pm. Their performance, before young people from youth centres as far away as Inuvik, Newfoundland, and Squamish, BC, highlighted many pressing issues facing young people, from depression and suicide to bullying, assault, and hopeful alternatives that sustain them through difficult times. “Listen Up, Perth!” was originally conceived by Perth teenagers Kai Archer, Kaija Evangelho, Tara Kreissler and Kaley Michelle McQuillan, in conjunction with Burning Passions Theatre Artistic Director Laurel Smith, who acted as dramaturge and director during the play development and production process. (Burning Passions Theatre, a professional theatre company, is the parent organization of the summertime Classic Theatre Festival). Reaction at the conference was, in a word, visceral. Certain scenes clearly resonated with young people who have experienced violence in their homes, addictions, cutting, and other maladies affecting young people. Audience members enthusiastically applauded the show and asked if they could stage similar programming in their home communities. (Smith offered to act as a consultant for anyone wishing to undertake a similar project.) “You covered so many issues in such an emotionally powerful way,” commented one youth from Northern Alberta during a talkback session. “I wish we had something like this where we live.” Other young people talked about their feelings of being disrespected by society at large and most adults in particular. When asked to give a verbal shoutout if they felt there were resources they could access to deal with the myriad problems they face, the room was silent. But while services may be scant or inaccessible, those who took part in the play itself found it transformative. As first-time performer Kaley Michelle McQuillan explained (whose roles include a bully, an anxious teenager, and an abusive parent), “I love this project because people need to be more aware of what’s going on with teens, and that we need to be heard. I suffer from depression and it’s been really hard because there are so few resources for teens nowadays. I have met new people who I became friends with, heard other stories about teens and what they have been through.” Being at the youth conference was for McQuillan “an amazing experience. When we performed it was amazing the expressions on the audience faces when we went through each scene. They were shocked how real our topics were, and they understood because these things have happened to them or people they know. People were crying, and it was an amazing feeling that we impacted them that much.” The youth troupe went through an intensive process of discussion and research, outlining the issues they wanted to work on, improvising scenes, and working with Smith to craft those scenes into a structured storytelling line. Smith and Associate Producer Matthew Behrens then took those scenes and… Continue reading

In an exciting new theatre project that will employ the talents of young people in Perth, Burning Passions Theatre (the parent company of the Classic Theatre Festival), will soon be holding auditions for “Listen Up, Perth!,” a play that will be devised and written by and about the challenges faced by young people in a rural setting. Working with the Festival’s Artistic Producer, Laurel Smith, youth aged 14-25 will have a chance to discuss issues ranging from age discrimination and abuse, to poverty and addictions in a safe setting, developing themes and stories that will then become a play that will be performed in Perth and a possible presentation at a national gathering of youth centres in Ottawa later this spring. “In a climate of social silence regarding challenges and obstacles facing young people, providing a platform for honest and open discussion of critical issues that otherwise are easily ignored is a major first step in putting the issue onto the public agenda, with the chance for further discussion about solutions,” says Smith, who has plenty of experience working with young people in an artistic setting, from a series of youth troupes that toured the Greater Toronto Area as “No City Limits,” to last year’s successful “Perth through the Ages” historic theatrical walking tour, in which young Perth performers trained and performed in a summer-long production that drew many visitors who learned about town history through an entertaining, accessible play. “Too often, the problems faced by young people are viewed as individual issues as opposed to broader social concerns affecting the majority of the age group: recognition of this broader issue will assist all of us as adults in the community to become more empathetic towards and dedicated to youth-positive policies and programs,” explains Smith, who believes post-play discussions with adult audience members will provide an important wake-up call and an opportunity for cross-generational dialogue. The idea for the “Listen Up, Perth!” project grew out of the Classic Theatre Festival’s mentorship of young people during the summer season. “Our employment of young people during the summer and our ability to provide volunteer hours to high school students has been a gift for us,” says Smith. “To hear all summer long directly from the mouths of young people about the troubles in their hearts, their souls, their minds, the sense of hopelessness so many face, even those who would normally be considered ‘good’ students. We have taken these words to heart and see them as a challenge, a call for us to use our skills as theatre artists to create a safe space for those who are marginalized and vulnerable to come forward, to shine, and to inspire the kind of community change that will help them as well as the next generation of young people growing up in this area. Ultimately, young people are looking for ways to connect and relate, and we know that theatre is a powerful tool to allow them to do that.” Social statistics in Perth… Continue reading