Fellow students’ compassion led to a project interviewing homeless people at the VOA and has culminated (or will it go further?) into an involving hour learning diverse life stories of six homeless people, portrayed by actors Quinn Kelly, Kayla Henry Jeffry Wilson, Ny’Kieria Blocker, Bob Robinson, and Olivia Hines, who took over for another actress at the last minute.
Though this project was years in its evolution, and actors did have scripts ahead of time, this multimedia event was put together in just four days under the direction of Paige Tufford. Original music and lyrics were by Chelle Peterson. Choreography by Luren Muddy provided artistic illustration of original poetry by Cruz Villarreal, Deborah Esther Nyamekye, Jonah Mixon-Webster and students in Barbara Clauer’s Fall 2018 Community Generated Poetry Project. Dramatic projections by Julian Hendrickson added yet another dimension.
This production is not much more than an hour, but an engaging, one. At the end, we meet most of the real people portrayed by the actors, and can put their names, JP, Shyla, Reuben, Dominique, Dick and Jillian with their real faces. We learn about the wide variety of circumstances, choices, and bad luck that can lead to homelessness — and grow our compassion.
ONE MORE SHOW - 2pm tomorrow (Sunday) at Dart Auditorium.
DONATIONS of scarves, gloves, mittens, hats, and new socks are welcome.
A card included with the program lists 13 local resources for the homeless deserving of our contributions, including the former VOA, now Holy Cross Services http://holycrossservices.org/programs/homeless-services - and also the LCC Cares Fund to support LCC students in need https://lcc.edu/foundation/lcccares.html