AWAKE will premiere at the Toronto Fringe Festival
July 6-10 and 12 – 17 || 8:00 PM
@ The Walmer Baptist Church – 88 Lowther Avenue
Tickets: Door: $10 || Advance $11
Advance Ticket Sales: (416) 966-1062 or www.fringetoronto.com
The AWAKE Experience
You turn the corner at Spadina and Lowther and join an informal procession of people making their way towards the local Baptist Church. As you approach the building, you hear distant gospel music from within. You pass by a parked police car with two uniformed officers scrutinizing each person as they walk by. A cameraman from the local TV station emerges from the church and records the crowd as you approach.
Photo Credit: Steve Carty
At the foot of the stairs of the church a hearse is parked…
You slowly walk up the stairs towards the church’s grand main doorways. With each step you take you pass by silent mourners – people quietly consoling each other and giving one another the strength to continue.
As you pass through the doors, you are handed a funeral program. You take a few steps down the aisle towards the casket, stop, turn and quietly take a seat among the pews.
You are here for a funeral, a funeral for all of the young men who have died throughout the years at the hand of gang violence.
But what starts off as a solemn remembrance quickly turns into an examination, and eventually a celebration.
What is AWAKE?
AWAKE as a multi-media experience that incorporates spoken word, dance hall, hip hop, docu-theatre and gospel music into an event that gives audiences a glimpse into the lives of those we usually only read about in the headlines of our papers.
AWAKE is based on hundreds of interviews conducted with real people from the Jamestown and surrounding areas. The interview that formed the foundation of AWAKE was that of Nadia Beckles. This young mother lost her son, Amon, to gang violence and is struggling to understand why. Amon’s shooting became infamous during the 2006 “Summer of The Gun” when his killer entered a church during a funeral service, found him, and shot him six times in the chest. The idea that someone could be targeted in a church, during a funeral, shook the city to its core.
Our audience will also find themselves in a church, witnessing a funeral. And they too will experience a taste of the tension, danger and loss that those in Jamestown live daily, and continually struggle to rise above. AWAKE has been in active development since 2009. Originally this piece was focused on examining the lives of those living in one of the notoriously run-down high-rises in Jamestown. At that time it was called HIGH RISE and was set in a high-rise courtyard. However, after interviewing Nadia, it was soon realized that this story isn’t about a building. This is a story about mourning the loss of lives, the loss of opportunity, and the loss of hope. At the same time it is also a story about celebrating these lives, celebrating the culture coming from this area, and celebrating hope.
