Thirty children benefited from Purple Arts Production’s annual drama workshop this year and displayed what they learned at a show, Emerge 8, last Saturday evening at the Theatre Guild in Kingston.
Among the things they learned was using modules for street theatre, outdoor or mobile performances. This was displayed in the skit “Home of the Johnsons” at Emerge 8. The space used as part of the Johnson’s home was transformed into a hospital where a baby was delivered. This is an early 21st century technique where actors pick up, pack up, move to another space and perform.
The scenario in the skit was a dysfunctional home. A pregnant teen daughter wished out loud that she wasn’t born, but her mother reminded her that she was loved. The children’s father was a drunkard who was unable to work after an accident. The mother was the sole breadwinner. She later learned that the father of her unborn grandchild was sexually assaulting another of her daughters and paying her to keep quiet.
