Fringe News
Fringe News
SExT: Sex Education by Theatre was created by PhD. candidate Shira Taylor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto as her dissertation. A theatre artist and advocate for social justice in public health, Shira wanted to use theatre to empower youth in Neighborhood Improvement Areas (NIAs) to reflect on, challenge, and communicate their sex education realities - a traditionally taboo topic. The burden of poor sexual health disproportionately affects newcomer youth and those in low-income families. Flemingdon/Thorncliffe Park are immigration destinations with a majority South Asian Muslim population. “You Belong,” Flemingdon/Thorncliffe’s youth community asset assessment, indicated a lack of arts programming. These NIAs are the hub of recent high profile protests opposing sex education reform.
Sexuality is intrinsically linked to social, religious, cultural and political spheres. What better vehicle to tackle this than theatre - uniquely qualified to engage intellectually and emotionally and probe issues as complex as humanity itself? In April 2014, Shira secured pilot funding from the CIHR Social Research Centre in HIV Prevention and partnered with Marc Garneau Collegiate Institute and the Flemingdon Health Centre to provide a safe space for theatre fundamentals training and to explore community issues through drama/music/dance/rap, in order to empower youth to become peer educators through performance. Shira was advised, considering the religious climate and neighbourhood profile, that youth commitment would be problematic.
This could not have been further from the truth. While she aimed to recruit ten youth, 19 diverse youth (9 girls, 10 boys; ages 14-19; 11 countries) completed the process, with no drop-outs. Workshops were held over 10 weeks of the school year and full-time over a week of summer to devise and rehearse a performance. Youth came from 8-hour work days, rehearsing into the evening. Others put in 10 hour days while fasting for Ramadan. They self-organized an extra rehearsal in the rain when space was unavailable. This culminated in a performance at the Ontario Science Centre in July 2014, written and performed by youth for community peers, attracting media attention from UofT News, the Huffington Post, and Global News. The show was remounted at the Palmerston Library Theatre and appeared at the Festival of Original Theatre (February 2016).
An email from a father/drama teacher read: “Phenomenal work from phenomenal kids…They showed bravery, vulnerability, maturity, and a great deal of talent and commitment. As a parent and educator, I would love to see this show in every high school in the TDSB and beyond. Truly relevant material presented in a manner that speaks to today's youth, presented by today's youth. Also, I could tell that they were having FUN!!! It may sound strange, but SExT has helped restore my faith in the next generation, the power of theatre, and youth in general. What you were able to accomplish with your cast was truly inspirational.”
The collective in its current state was formed to continue this work. Collective artists volunteered during the pilot phase and are committed to the project’s sustainability and evolution.
Our Cast:
Our entire cast (13 youth) is from the Flemingdon/Thorncliffe Park Communities (Immigration Destinations and designated Neighbourhood Improvement Areas of Toronto). The birthplaces/ Cultural Heritage of the main members of our production include: Pakistan, Bangladesh, Qatar, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Canada/ Muslim, Hindu, Jewish.
Our Production Team:
Created and Directed by Shira Taylor (‘Hamlet…A Puppet Epic,’ Shakey-Shake and Friends, 2015 Toronto Fringe Patron’s Pick/ Best of FringeKids); Produced by Nicole Buscema (‘Retreat,’ Theatre Brouhaha, ‘Sean and Steven Run for Mayor,’ 2015 Toronto Fringe Patron’s Pick, ‘Vitals,’ OTM and TPM, Dora Award for Outstanding Independent Production)
Venue:
Show Times:
June 29th at 8:45 PM
July 2nd at 5:45 PM
July 3rd at 12:30 PM
July 6th at 7:00 PM
July 7th at 9:15 PM
July 9th at 2:15 PM
July 10th at 5:45 PM
Show length: 60min.
Photo: The Cast. ©2016 Fiona Sauder.
2016-06-09
Fringe: SExT: Sex Education by Theatre