Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Attending "Vanished" at Matrix Theater


Would anyone be interested to go to see the new young playwright's production of Vanished on Saturday, March 20 at 4pm? There's also a show at 8pm. I was thinking to go to the Detroit Eastern Market to check out the produce and vibes, and then go to the show. Student discounts on tickets are available, so it would cost $10 per ticket. I contacted the ticketing people, and they can reserve seats for a group if there's enough of us. I can also look into checking out the A&D van. There's also a show the following Saturday, March 27, at 4 & 8pm, as well as shows on Fridays and Sundays.


Here's a description of the show from Matrix Theater's blog:

“Vanished” is directed by 19-year-old Laura Perez who also led the collective writing of the production. The writers spent a year gathering stories from residents, immigration officers, school officials and more. The idea for the play is based on the experience of Perez’s close friend whose father, the family’s provider, was deported as an undocumented immigrant, while his mother was left to fend for herself and their three children. Unable to find work, she was forced to move back to Mexico. Unwilling to give up his education as an honor student at Cass Technical High School, Perez’s young friend was forced to support himself while finishing his senior year. Despite his hardships, he graduated with honors and was awarded a scholarship to the College for Creative Studies. He had to turn it down because of his undocumented status. Today he lives alone and struggles to support himself with low-paying jobs, while attending Henry Ford Community College part time.

"Vanished” includes other personal experiences shared by the cast and playwrights: dignity-stripping home invasions; a parent desperately struggling to find someone to care for his children when his wife is suddenly deported; married couples deported without their children ever being notified. Residents live in constant fear of deportation each time they see U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles on their street.

“This play is the voice of a lot of people in this neighborhood,” said Perez. “You can start your day as a family, and that afternoon your parents are gone and you’re forced to fend for yourself.” Perez began working with Matrix at the age of 10. This deeply felt original work is her professional directing debut, and it draws upon her experience as a child of immigrant parents growing up in Southwest Detroit.


Please let me know if you're interested!!

1 comment:

  1. I was interested in how these community groups "create a space" for young people. I think teenagers always have to deal with not having a space of their own, outside of their parent's house and school. The mall tries to be, but its goal is sales. The whole concept of "loitering" makes this lack of space ridiculously obvious.

    In one of his later essays Foucault writes about "heterotopias" which are in-between spaces created for deviant behavior. He uses examples of spaces made for those with mental illness, pregnant women, and I think he specifically says teenagers as well. But he believes that these are places with no agency; people are put there by others. What's interesting about the community groups you spoke about is that they give agency to teenagers. They give them something to do other than buy or loiter (not buy), and actually draw more people to the space they have defined for themselves.

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