Young drama group portrays real life

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Young, blonde Tanya enters an Edmonton classroom and introduces herself as the new student to the Native teacher.

The teacher directs the girl to take a seat. She approaches one in the front row but one of the students, Dwayne, grabs the chair, jerks his thumb towards the back of the room and says, "Whites sit in the back."

The all-Native class - with the exception of the new arrival Tanya - discuss an upcoming trip. One student, Marilyn tells the teacher they don't want the white girl to come.

Stepping outside of his role as student, one budding young actor, Frank, says, "Don't you think this can get too prejudiced?:

Tanya, playing the target to their anti-white prejudice, is looking tense. Marilyn and Dwayne also vacate their roles as students and give Tanya a hug.

The group worries about the strain of this role on Tanya.

"I think we need more white people," suggests Marilyn.

This is the Inner City Drama Association at work. The classroom is really one corner of the Edmonton inner-city McCauley Boys and Girls Club gymnasium. The actors are all inner-city youth working up a new play.

The young dramatists, aged 15 to 22, follow no printed script and no one is cast as director. The group starts with a central theme, such as prejudice and racism, the theme of their current work. They then create the storyline, the dialogue, the action, all from the stage of life--their own lives.

Alcohol and drug abuse, family violence, child abuse, teen prostitution and AIDS are subjects the group touches on. Everyone contributes to the script, and even the youngest members of the group, Lance and Frank, who are only 15, have something to add from their own experiences.

Watching from the sidelines are facilitators Joe Cloutier and Alexina Dalgetty.

They ssist and advise the group, but allow the youths themselves to take all the leading roles.

The Inner City Drama Association was the brain-child of Cloutier, a youth worker and teacher, who was once an inner-city kid.

Cloutier recognized drama as an ideal vehicle to give inner-city kids a host of experiences they weren't getting anywhere else. The association's brochure says the popular theatre-based programs "give a voice to those whose self-esteem has been undermined, by the lack of health opportunities, effects of poverty and street life."

Following their working session the drama group, currently numbering eight, aptly expresses what their weekly sessions and frequent public performances mean to them.

In a low and constant tone, one member explains how they so accurately portray teen prostitution in one of their plays.

"Because I saw that. The only thing that seemed to make my Mom happy was money, so she could go out to the bars. So my sister, she did it." After a pause she adds, "and I did it sometimes too. So I could bring money home to my mom."

Some members were drug and alcohol users from a very early age. And one describes himself as a "former B and E (break and enter) expert."

Marilyn, 18, the most experienced member of the group, has been with the association five years. She had troubles at home and "telling my story to the audience, telling what happened to me, it helped me to express my emotions."

The scope of the association goes far beyond the drama exercises. Marilyn says Joe and another worker in the program were "a shoulder to cry on" and got help for her from other agencies and services.

Marilyn and all members of the group say the greatest benefit is support they find in one another.

"Everyone in the group is great to talk to. We can spill our guts, and tell them how we feel. They'll always be there for us," says Lance.

Their performances have a healing effect, for the cast and the audiences, says Frank. "People find out they're not the only ones."

Over its six-year history the drama association has expanded beyond their first venue, the McCauley Boys and Girls Club. It has spawned drama groups at Alex Taylor School, Eastwood Junior High School, Boyle Street Co-o, Second Chance for Youth Association and more junior group at the McCauley club. Close to 100 inner-city kids, from six to 20 years of age, are participating in these groups.

In the past year the senior group has acquired a rented house in the neighborhood. Five of the members live there on a co-operative basis and others are welcome to stay on an as-needed basis. The group pools some of their money earned from performances as

an emergency fund available to members to cover rent, food and other necessities.

The Inner City Drama Association most recently performed at the Aboriginal Youth Conference in Edmonton and they have performed at the Edmonton Fringe

Festival and the Edmonton Youth Offenders Centre.