Monday March 22, 2010, marked World Water Day, and an exceptional event put on by Matrix Theatre Company with support from the People’s Water Board and Detroit Evolution. Matrix and their allies brought World Water Day to life for the community of Southwest Detroit. The event served not only as the showcase for the Matrix School of Theatre's winter semester, but also the kickoff event of Ghost Waters, Matrix Theatre’s new three-year project about water consciousness and the hidden and buried rivers of Detroit.
The event was held at St. Anne’s Parish Hall, and brought together a diverse gathering of Southwest Detroit to rejoice in community building and the valuable resource that is our water.
Ghost Waters, which began in January 2010, is an eco-awareness and eco-education community arts program which will include field trips to various sites throughout the Detroit area, involvement in different social justice and community events, puppet-building and showcasing and street theatre performances.
The event began with a showing of posters from the water awareness poster contest and an exceptionally delicious dinner provided Detroit Evolution's Corktown Community Kitchen, who help bring local, healthy food to the city of Detroit, Avalon Bread and the Matrix staff. The opening libations ceremony was performed by Charity Hicks of the Detroit Black Community Food Security Network, and set the uplifting and hopeful mood for the remainder of the evening. We had fantastic, beautiful performances from the Living on Stage and Playwriting Is… classes, as well as an excellent presentation and performance of the students’ new puppets, created for the Ghost Waters’ Water Stories performance. A water dance was then followed by a showcasing of the recycled puppets.
We also had a number of theatre performances, all focusing on water awareness and eco-education - a great beginning for Ghost Waters! Performances included Lesson Learned, The Water Cycle, and News from Waterville. In addition to these, Jen Boyak showcased the Spirit of the Water Masks, with performances of The Moon’s Power and Friends at the Beach written by Rosario De La Cruz-Martin.
Overall, the event was a fantastic success with amazing local food, beautiful art, exceptional performances. and a great hope for the state of water use and awareness in Detroit.
You can become involved with Ghost Waters by contacting Ken Srdjak at 313-967-0999 or ksrdjak@matrixtheatre.org. Come and be a part of the workshops, field trips and fetivals.
This post was written by Jenn Vanaman, who is a student intern from University of Michigan School of Social Work.
What a wonderful post by a wonderful intern who worked so hard to make this a successful event.
ReplyDeleteThanks to ALL who participated in whatever capacity you were in while there to make this a great event!
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