PUBLIC INVITED TO 'SHATTERING', PLAY ABOUT ADDICTION

How can communities use the theatre to unlock the knowledge that
resides within them to respond to issues of addiction at a grassroots
level?

Headlines Theatre's play Shattering begins with the premise that
addicts come from somewhere: our communities. It is also within our
communities that solutions dwell. By combining the multi-layered issue
of addiction with Forum Theatre, Shattering engages our collective
creativity. Audience members are invited to stop the action of the
play, and replace characters onstage providing an opportunity to
initiate dialogue and serve as a safe testing ground for experimenting
with new ideas.

In early 2006 Headlines Theatre was invited to a meeting on the Skwah
Reserve near Chilliwack, BC. Out of this meeting came a request to
create a Forum Theatre piece that would deal with the alarming rise of
drug use.

Headlines set to work creating a play that dug beneath the symptoms to
address the very roots of addiction, the day to day moments and
relationships that set the stage for the addictive behaviors. Out of
workshops with both Native and non-Native participants, the play was
created.

In late 2006 the production (which was then called Meth) toured into
26 communities across British Columbia to tremendous critical and
audience acclaim. While the play and the cast remain identical, the
title has since been changed to Shattering. During the booking of the
Western Canada tour we heard from many of our sponsors that they
understood how the play only used meth as a window into addiction but
still wished the title was not the name of a particular drug.
Shattering works on many levels: how individuals, families,
communities shatter as a result of addiction; also how the project is
about shattering pre-conceptions about the issue and approaches to the
issue.

After receiving numerous requests to bring the play to additional
communities, Headlines is now preparing to take the production, with
the original cast, back on the road. Beginning on September 27, 2008,
the project will launch in Vancouver for a week, then play to
thirty-one communities throughout British Columbia, Alberta and
Saskatchewan.

The performance in Agassiz takes place at the Seabird Island Band
Office community gym on Monday, Oct. 8 at7 p.m. For more information
about the show, call 604-997-9907.