Play by Minneapolis youth theater program puts spotlight on Cedar-Riverside neighborhood
MINNEAPOLIS — A group of young adults wants everyone, regardless of what suburb or rural area they live in, to know what it's really like to live in the heart of the city and to sometimes not have a place to live at all.
The group is writing a fictional play inspired by their real lives.
For one of the writers, Sam Karpeh, the city has been a source of much pain since he moved here as a teen from Liberia.
"There were a lot of adjustments, got to learn a new language school and how everything is," Karpeh said. "Tough challenges, you know, some made me hopeless, some made me angry, some just made me down. But I am glad I sticked it through."
His toughest challenge was navigating homelessness.
"When it comes time to lay your head down and all you can think about in your head is, 'Where am I gonna sleep? How am I even gonna be able to afford to get a room or a couch, like in somebody's crib?'" Karpeh said. "It's (homelessness) not a choice. Sometimes people get homeless, things happen in life and most of the time people are more focused on judging people rather than understanding, 'Hey, it could happen to me.'"
His fellow writers have never been homeless, but they do understand city life, growing up in Cedar-Riverside.
"I think with Cedar-Riverside, I want people to know the culture that's here," Mahad Ahmed said. "People who come over here and live over here just love the community and just love the place."
It's a neighborhood they plan to showcase in the play. They are part of Be That Neighbor's Hope 612 youth empowerment group through a partnership with the Guthrie and the help of the iconic theatre's own dramaturge.
"I feel like there's a connection with finding a home, finding a safe place, finding a place to belong," Blossom Johnson said.
Hope 612 has a choir and several performances, but this one though will be autobiographical thanks to some young people who've come to love theatre.
"For a second, I laughed, trying to get my nervousness out. After that, I got into my character. People see 3D movies, I felt like my character was right there. That right there was amazing. It made me feel good," Karpeh said.
They've been working on the script for nine months.
"We just took it as an opportunity to try something new, and we liked it," Miske Salad said. "We are speaking from our point of view and what we think is the truth and what we want them to hear."
They hope to get enough donations to have a production on stage next summer.
"You see how we all have different backgrounds living in the city but how can we tell that story was the goal for me...and writing that story that should be out there and telling everybody," Ahmed said. "There's a lot of people in this city very silenced and their story not being told and us getting this chance, just making sure we can tell a very accurate and true story that when we write it out, its not just us, we are speaking for a lot of people who have the same experience as us."
They want people to see their story and to feel it.
"I hope people see that regardless of your background or where you are from, if you work with your neighbor and be with your neighbor, the world can be a better place," Karpeh said.
If you want to check out Hope 612, they'll be performing at the Guthrie Theatre after a matinee showing of "A Christmas Carol" on Dec. 7.