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Why do Rites of Passage Theatre?

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Rites of Passage is generously
sponsored
by:

Community partners:

* ArtsConnect

* Society for Community Development

* PoCoMo Youth Services

What will the show be like?
Here's a synopsis of the first twenty minutes or so. . .

The show begins like a rock concert mixed with a live TV-show - the performers warm up the audience and get them ready to yell and sing along. The costumes are spectacular - the music is tribal/modern - there is sound and motion everywhere.

Noise and clamour – horns, whistles, cymbals – come from all directions around the audience as a tribe of fantastically-clad warriors swarms the theatre, “kidnapping” that night's youth candidates, and taking them offstage.

(Remember, youth candidates are different people every night - they're the ones actually going through the ceremony that the performers create around them!)

A mother character and other adult singers sing a lamentation about how their children have been stolen away. They lead the audience in a song-chant, crying for the lost youth.

Some warriors come back onstage with sticks and spears, with the abducted youth, who now have been blindfolded. The warriors warn the audience not to interfere. A youth performer sings how scared she feels, and how she doesn’t want to grow up.

The youth candidates are asked whether they are ready to give up being children and to take on the rights and responsibilities of an adult - whether they are ready to become warriors on the path of the heart. 

A monster appears and dances. The candidates are eaten by the monster and disappear into the underworld....

Find out how you can get involved...

T-shirt logo: "I was kidnapped, beaten, eaten alive, dragged through hell then brought back to life...and all I got was this lousy t-shirt"