By Daniela Syrovy
Enter 10 energetic teens breaking out in “In the Jungle, your private jungle, the virus sleeps tonight.” The musical number has the audience inside McNabb Community Centre roaring with laughter.
The skit is on sexually transmitted diseases and includes another song about herpes to the tune of Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable.”
The youth beamed with pride as they performed their premiere show last week.
Combine drama with youth, add a dash of politics, and you get Insight Theatre. Planned Parenthood Ottawa introduced Insight Theatre as an educational program for youth in 1981.
The program seeks to educate and empower youth by having their peers address teen issues.
“For a lot of these students it might be the first time they’re hearing about some of these issues, it’s important to introduce sexual health issues as normal and OK to talk about,” says Jill Connell, coordinator of the program.
“If they gain nothing from seeing the performance except that there were other youth on stage acting and being entertaining, both funny and serious with regards to sexual health issues, I think that’s a very effective message.”
The troupe is made up of 10 youth volunteers from around the Ottawa region, who travel to schools performing skits addressing teen issues.
Topics range from sexual orientation, peer pressure, HIV to abortion and mental health-any issues that focus on healthy sexuality and decision making.
“We take a sexual health point of view, rather than a sex point of view,” says Connell.
One of the more difficult issues the troupe deals with is abortion says Michelle Coates, a Centretown resident and 17-year-old troupe member.
“Abortion is a touchy and political issue which makes it hard to work into a scene,” says Coates.
Despite the challenges involved, Coates feels her experience with Insight Troupe has been positive.
“I feel more open-minded about things and more confident to stand-up and educate,” says Coates.
Other problematic topics include sexual orientation and masturbation says Connell. Since some of these matters are considered taboo, they have caused hurdles in the past, says Connell.
When it comes to subject matter, Insight Theatre makes no compromises. They do not perform in Catholic schools.
“It’s all or nothing,” says Connell. “The people who book us, book us year after year and have come to trust us and know what we’re about”.
Each June the program auditions for its summer training camp and chooses between 20-25 youth to be trained through July and August.
For eight weeks, the youth receive drama coaching and education.
The AIDS Committee of Ottawa, Ottawa Rape Crisis Centre and Ottawa Distress Centre are amoung the many community services that get involved with the training.
For about seven hours a week, the group attends “issue sessions” followed by improvisational coaching where they learn to build short scenes around the topics discussed.
After the summer training program the 10 finalists are selected to form the Insight Theatre troupe for one year.
“We want as many youth as possible to be informed about these issues,” says Connell.
The teens in this year’s group are 14 to 18 years old, and the material for their shows comes entirely from them. They rehearse two to three times a week, improvising and writing scripts for scenes.
The final product is a collaborative project, the result of each volunteer putting in upwards of 200 hours.
The troupe will travel to different schools in and around the Ottawa area. In past years, performances have brought them as far away as Cornwall.
Insight Theatre averages between 30 and 40 shows a year. This year’s troupe will be reaching an audience of about 7,000 youth.
The show is primarily aimed at an audience of students in Grade 7 to 9, but the troupe also does shows at community centres. A junior show for grades 7 to 8 costs $100, while a senior show aimed at Grade 9 to OAC costs $175.
Planned Parenthood Ottawa receives a grant from the City of Ottawa to provide the remainder of the funding needed for the program.
Last Tuesday’s performance was free to the public to introduce the new troupe and their fresh material. The audience jumped up from their seats in applause as the youth took their bows.
“I feel less judgmental, they talked about so many issues so comfortably,” said Brianna Szarka, a teen audience member.
The show was followed by a question and answer period. An audience member asked the troupe what they thought Insight Theatre’s message was and Daron Faulkner, a 15-year-old performer answered, “Whoever you are is good.”