Spilling IT: Issues Theater a forum for teen speak

By KAYLEY MENDENHALL, Chronicle Staff Writer

Pulling a chair to the front of the small stage at the Leaf and Bean, 17-year-old Nicole Smith gazed into the audience and stated one word -- love.

"Every time I get into a relationship, I think, 'He's the one,'" she said, perfecting the look of a teenager experiencing romantic feelings for the first time.

A blissful smile lit up her face as Smith described her feelings in the beginning of a relationship.

The excitement and the attraction that fade into boredom and, well, less of an attraction.

Smith recounted the turmoil for a teenager falling in love for the first time, trying to maintain a long-distance relationship and eventually realizing the need to break up.

"I have to tell him I can't love him anymore," she said, with palpable hurt and anguish. "It's over. It's done."

The scene, titled "Love," is just one of 21 moments where teen actors Smith, Stephanie Bulluss, Erika Epple, Victoria de Onis and Tyler Matthews tackle topics ranging from rape and suicide to the more humorous, never-ending problem of finding entertainment in Bozeman, Montana.

"It is all about the current stuff that goes on in our daily lives," Epple, 15, said. "It's hard for a teenager to get their voice heard."

Issues Theater is sponsored by the Bridger Clinic and is intended to serve as a method of peer education, said Laura Mentch of the clinic.

"The kids created all of this themselves," Mentch said. "It's about decision making. It's about the lives of teenagers. We didn't give them any parameters."

Mentch has wanted to start a teen theater group for five or six years, but until now said she did not have the money to pay for it. This year Bridger Clinic had some extra funds -- about $3,000 -- for prevention work. Mentch used the money to hire professional directors Lila Michael and Greg Owens to start Issues Theater.

They visited the schools searching for actors and held auditions in an attempt to find a range of kids at different ages, with different experiences to bring to the program.

"So many people are scared of what goes on with these guys because it's huge," Michael said. "I told them, 'You get to say what you want, talk about whatever issues you want to talk about.'

"It's been an amazing experience," she said.

Only nine weeks ago, the group of chosen actors started meeting with Michael and Owens. In the beginning they would sit in a circle and talk about subjects normally considered taboo. Then they would go home and write down their ideas.

All of the scenes are written by the actors, and some of them are inspired by real events.

"I do a love monologue based on my personal experiences," Smith said. "It's about the cycle of love, at least for my life ... A lot of it applies just to me."

But her fellow actors said even though the story is one that came from Smith's life, the message applies to everyone. The show, they said, is designed to be meaningful to audience members of all ages.

And the improvisational format that Michael and Owens taught the actors makes the audience an instrumental part of the show. The scene names and numbers are written on individual cards and placed in a bowl. As the performance moves along, audience members pick cards from the bowl between each scene, dictating the direction the actors take.

"You don't know what's coming," Michael said. "You don't know what you're going to get."

They rhythm between the serious scenes and the humorous moments changes every time Issues Theater is performed, making it interesting and challenging for the actors. The first time they performed at the Bozeman Public Library last week, the teenagers said they actually shocked the audience.

"Some of the scenes are really blunt and we surprised a lot of people with it," Bulluss said. "At the end of one scene, no one even clapped. They were surprised by it."

When the actors talk frankly about racism, date rape and attempted suicide, she said, people aren't always sure if it is appropriate to applaud.

Issues Theater took its show to the Bozeman High School theater classes this week and the actors said it was a different experience performing in front of their peers than it had been in front of adults.

"Their opinion matters to us most," Matthews said.

But the response they received was mostly positive, as their fellow students told them they hit on issues that actually matter to teens. Some had suggestions for improvement that will likely be woven into the material as the show grows and changes.

Michael and Mentch hope to keep the program going by raising more money and training the kids to run it on their own. As the original five actors grow out of the roles and run out of time to commit to the program, Michael said new people will be recruited to fill the spots.

As for the teenagers involved now, they say the experience has easily been worth giving up every Saturday for two months to rehearse.

"One of the biggest things I've learned is to be more comfortable talking about issues you don't normally talk about," Smith said.

The more people talk about problems, the group agreed, the less frightening they are.

Kayley Mendenhall is at kmendenhall@dailychronicle.com

Reader Comments