Gimme the Keys will give communities a primal language (the theatre) through which they can explore difficult issues of racism and violence. The project hands over the keys that unlock cross-cultural understanding and develop critical thinking.
Gimme the Keys will help youth and adults navigate the internal and external dialogue that puts them and friends and loved ones in the car, when they know they should not be there. It will function from many sides of a complex equation; looking at both internal and external voices that, at inappropriate times, say ÒGimme the keysÓ, and also at external, helpful voices, that say, ÒGimme the keysÓ. This theatre project will develop a set of community-specific keys to help people navigate this issue in the real moments of their lives and find empowerment.
For over a decade Headlines has been the only theatre company in the world taking this interactive theatre style to live television and the web. We take interventions from a live audience, but also from people throughout the Lower Mainland and around the world via actors on telephones and at computer terminals. People call in from home or enter our web site and talk or cyber-chat to an actor, who then runs into the theatre and does the intervention on their behalf. Live and truly interactive! We have won numerous awards for these broadcasts.
We will do two of the workshops somewhere in the Lower Mainland and one of those performances will be a live web/telecast. When we did this with DonÕt Say a Word, we were able to work with schools in Regina who brought students together around computer terminals. They participated live in the Forum Theatre event. During Corporate U (on globalization issues in 2000) we took a live intervention from Croatia! Through the interactive web cast this project will be able to reach into communities that the workshop tour cannot.
"The web cast of Don't Say a Word was fantastic. What a powerful play! We had 16 people join us for the afternoon. 6 high school students (Gr 9-11), 4 university students (Fine Arts, Education), 2 parents and 4 Facilitators of our ACT program. We were able to take part in some interventions. The discussions which took place before and after the play were tremendous."
Lori Whiteman (Aitcheson), Consultant, Education Equity, Regina Public Schools