CRANKED REACHES OUT TO STUDENTS

As the lights dimmed in the QSS gym, girls giggled and the boys yelled "Yo".

Psychedelic lights flashed as gutsy, raw Wrap music belted out of two
banks of speakers drowning crowd noise.

Cranked was up and running.

The dream child of Michael P. Northey, Cranked presents the gritty,
terrifying truth about crystal meth.

In the one-man show, Kyle Cameron, wraps out the story of a young
man, Stanley, who sinks into a crystal meth zombie world.

The words speak of the unspeakable, crank-heads eating their own
scabs to recycle the high.

Green Thumb Theatre, a 30-year-old traveling company based in
Vancouver, presents subjects to students in the hopes of having an
impact and changing bad behaviour.

Although Cameron has never used crystal meth, his portrayal of the
character, convincing lyrics, and youthful platform (hip hop), had
the otherwise inattentive teens, silenced.

The music reached them, the words stunned them, and the message came
through loud and clear.

Crystal meth kills, just as surely as if they put a gun to their head.

The music was written for the Cranked production by Vancouver hip hop
artists Kyprios and Stylust.

At the end of the performance, Cameron invited the audience to ask questions.

It was obvious the crowd identified with the character, as their
questions pertained to Cameron's career, his experience with crystal
meth and whether or not he could breakdance.

Each time he answered a question, Cameron encouraged students to
check out www.crystalmeth.ca

Cameron has never touched crystal meth and he hopes his performance
will put students in that same frame of mind.