“I want to be where the people are… Up where they walk, up where they run, up where they stay all day in the sun, wanderin’ free…wish I could be part of that world.”
This song from the Disney movie, “The Little Mermaid,” was written more than 30 years before today’s coronavirus pandemic. Yet, for Ken Haller, associate professor of pediatrics and accomplished cabaret artist, Ariel’s ditty speaks to a life of isolation and a longing for a world unlike her underwater reality.
Haller’s musings, along with other contributors, have been adapted for “Celebration of Survival: Coping with the COVID Quarantine.” The show/playback” will be presented by A Call to Conscience Interactive Theatre for Social Change (C2C).
Founded in 2012, the theater collective uses multimedia formats to dramatize historical themes that deal with the struggles of the oppressed. In this show, C2C will present testimonials, interviews and poems revolving around COVID-19.
Artistic Director Fannie Belle Lebby, describes the show as a “choreopoem,” a phrase coined in 1975 by African American playwright, Ntozake Shange. It is a form of dramatic expression that combines poetry, dance, music, and song. Basically, it’s an opportunity for audiences to hear, share and engage in conversations to help cope with stress and anxiety brought on by more than 17 months of unprecedented living during a global pandemic.
“Research has shown that art is a good tool to relieve stress and anxiety.”- Fannie Belle Lebby, co-founder and artistic director, A Call to Conscience Interactive Theatre for Social Change.
“Research has shown that art is a good tool to relieve stress and anxiety,” Lebby explained. “Not only do we need to talk about it, but we need to provide information and resources so that people can connect with the agencies that can help them cope.”
According to a July 2020 Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll, about four in 10 U.S. adults have reported symptoms of anxiety or depressive disorder. This is up from one in 10 a year prior. The negative impacts on mental health include difficulty sleeping or eating, and increased alcohol or substance consumption due to worry and stress over the coronavirus.
The choreopoem will touch on the topics of isolation, violence (both domestic and police brutality), food insecurity, unemployment and how the pandemic has exacerbated existing mental woes such as panic, personality, bipolar and post-traumatic stress disorders.
Lebby, who assisted in the adaptations for “Celebration of Survival…” is also the director. Hesitant to reveal too much about the content of the play, she provided synopses of some of the acts or, what she called “Playettes (short plays).”
A contributor described herself as a “queer” artist, activistanda “survivor of child molestation.”She tells a heartbreaking story of her long-time “drinking and gambling” father who was in a New York hospital battling the coronavirus. The woman speaks of a family divided, and how her friends “are more my family than they can ever be.”
A musician tells how the gigs he had lined up were just “gone, gone, gone, gone,” after the shutdown last year.
Another contributor wrote about his belief that COVID-19 is a “man-made disease,” Lebby explains. The writer, who ended up getting the virus and was laid off from work, detailed his method of coping.
“I’m here to tell you, what has gotten me through this pandemic, this crisis: It’s my faith— reading my Bible, praying, and watching Leave it to Beaver for a little bit of laughter.”
A creative piece written by director, playwright and actor, Greg Carr, takes a 100-year leap backward and forward from the Spanish Flu (1918-1920) to an imagined pandemic in the year 3020. It examines the past, present and future similarities and challenges of pandemics
Rhadi Smith, a 14-year-old poet, compared COVID-19 to a prison sentence.
“In some type of ironic way this is symbolic…We cooped up in the house like a cell, ‘cause of a cell…with an unknown sentence…talkin ‘bout corona virus.”
Local playwright Joan Lipkin contributed several taped interviews for the play, including her own testimonial about a call from her brother the day before the 2020 shutdown.
“It is essential that we document this time and see how our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others in our local communities are responding.” – Playwright Joan Lipkin.
Lipkin’s brother informed his sisters that he had COVID-19.
“The good news,” the brother said, was that he’ll be able to give his sisters his antibodies to protect them from the virus.
“And thus,” Lipkin wrote, “begins the worst two weeks of my life.”
The story, Lipkin explained, illustrates just one way the epidemic has impacted lives.
“In my lifetime, we have never experienced a pandemic like this that has affected so many aspects of our lives. It is essential that we document this time and see how our friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others in our local communities are responding. There are many lessons to be learned here.”
Not only are there lessons to be learned, Lebby stressed, the play will include an interactive segment where the audience can share their own experiences or discuss the vignettes. Resources will also be provided for those grappling with COVID-related stress.
A culminating event is also planned, Lebby explained, for the audience to use “expressive visual arts to ‘complete a collage as documentation of their thoughts, feelings, and perspectives of the issues addressed in the vignettes and playback performances.”
The upcoming production is in line with C2C’s mission to use art as a means to deal with the struggles of the oppressed. When it comes to the anxiety brought on by COVID, Lebby suggests one powerful remedy:
“We need to talk about it.”
Sylvester Brown Jr. is The St. Louis American’s inaugural Deaconess Fellow.
“Celebration of Survival: Coping with the COVID Quarantine” performances and workshop will take place at the Centene Centre for the Arts in Maryland Heights. For more information, contact C2C at 314-584-9206 or visit the theatre company’s website.
KFF Health Tracking Poll – July 2020