As democracies thin out all over the world, is there a radical hope to be found in the humble high school drama classroom? Dr. Kathleen Gallagher has spent her life researching young people and how drama affords a rare window onto their experiences, anxieties and dreams. Acclaimed as a “stunning reinterpretation of what ‘verbatim’ and ‘documentary’ theatre can mean”, TOWARDS YOUTH brings Kathleen’s timely work to the stage, and reveals startling truths about youth culture in England, Greece, India, Taiwan and Canada. Exploring Brexit to Trump to growing up in times of austerity, this new play envisions drama kids across the globe as more than the canaries in the coal mine. While helping us to understand how they’re shouldering this world they've inherited, can young people teach us all a better way forward?
TOWARDS YOUTH was originally commissioned through Dr. Kathleen Gallagher's research project: Youth, Theatre, Radical Hope and the Ethical Imaginary, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
February 25 - March 16, 2019
Streetcar Crowsnest
A Project: Humanity and Crow's Theatre co-production
in collaboration with Dr. Kathleen Gallagher
Written by Andrew Kushnir
Directed by Chris Abraham & Andrew Kushnir
Featuring Aldrin Bundoc, Amaka Umeh, Emilio Vieira, Jessica Greenberg, Liisa Repo-Martell, Loretta Yu, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff, Tim Dowler-Coltman & Zorana Sadiq
Set, Costume & Lighting Design by Ken MacKenzie
Music Composition & Sound Design by Deanna Choi
Video Design & Tech by Amelia Scott
Dialect Design by Eric Armstrong
Stage Management by Sarah Miller
Apprentice Stage Management by Karli Feldman
Assistant Directed by Natasha Greenblatt
“A showcase of an extraordinary ensemble of actors; I’ve never seen the group dynamics of teenagers represented so well on stage by actors who are not, themselves, teens. Great energy and originality”
- The Globe & Mail, ★★★/4
Ambitious, sprawling and invested with tenacious heart, it’s impossible not to root for Towards Youth.
- NOW MAgazine, NNNN
“Towards Youth, is a full-length, continent-spanning, multilingual epic; A stunning reinterpretation of what ‘verbatim’ and ‘documentary’ theatre can mean.”
- Toronto star, ★★★/4
TOWARDS YOUTH was generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts New Chapter program. Development for the project was generously supported by the Banff Playwrights Lab.
Project: Humanity is grateful for the support of Laura Dinner & Richard Rooney, production sponsors.
