April 3-19, 2009
Young activist uses drama to tear down walls
A reminder that you only have a few more weeks to check out this new original play based on real stories from Palestine and the American southwest. "The Birds That Are Your Hands" is continuing through April 19 at Broom Street Theater. This is an extremely powerful and moving performance by a talented group of local actors, accompanied by striking multi-media images and sound. Broom Street Theater truly is living up to its philosophy that "no subject will ever be off limits" by producing this play, and they deserve your support. — Barb O.
Phil Haslanger, Capital Times, March 25, 2009
Last year at this time, Sol Kelley-Jones was living in the West Bank, using theater to help Palestinian children envision a future for themselves in the midst of occupation.
Now Kelley-Jones is back in Madison, helping those who attend her new play envision the reality in some of the world's tensest places.
The drama — "The Birds That Are Your Hands" — is playing through April 19 at the Broom Street Theater. It juxtaposes scenes from the West Bank with scenes from the Arizona-Mexico border, where Kelley-Jones spent last summer.
Walls and fences are some of the shared realities. So are military forces that mix intimidation with humiliation. So are lines at checkpoints, tragic deaths of babies, simmering rage. And so are the songs of birds and creative drawings on the stifling walls.
Kelley-Jones knows there are multiple realities at work in these regions, but she has chosen to tell the stories of those left on the margins — the people whose lives every day are marginalized by the powers that dominate their landscape.
Israel has been building a 436-mile security barrier around the West Bank, a symbol for Israel of safety from terrorism, a daily obstacle to normal life for the Palestinians who are trapped by it.
The United States has been building a fence along 700 miles of the U.S.-Mexican border, sometimes reaching high into the sky like the longtime wall separating Nogales, Mexico and Nogales, Ariz.
Some of the actors are chalking scenes on the back wall of the theater. "We can't let the gray of the wall occupy our imaginations as well," one says. The authorities discourage this. "If we paint birds on the wall, our wings too will feather," the actor says as the songs of birds give way to the sounds of artillery.
Kelley-Jones lived with the realities of the children in Palestine as she worked in a theater program in refugee camps. She described her work as "both trauma intervention and resistance."
The 22-year-old Madison woman is no stranger to either activism or theater. As a middle school student, she helped found Proud Theater to help young people use drama for social activism. In high school, she was leading protests against the Iraq war. Now at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, she is majoring in social science and interdisciplinary art.
This play captures the anguish of a father whose baby dies at birth when he and his wife cannot get through an Israeli checkpoint. It captures the crisis of faith for a priest working with Mexican immigrants in the desert as he comes across yet another dead baby.
And then as the play draws to a close, a voice rises from a crowd at a demonstration: "At some point you have to decide: Which side of the wall will you be on when it falls?"
You hear birds singing again, then a mesh fence is pulled across the stage and all that is left at the end are candles flickering behind the fence.
Phil Haslanger is pastor of Memorial United Church of Christ in Fitchburg.
"The Birds That Are Your Hands" is at Broom Street Theater Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. through April 19.
You can read more of Phil Haslanger's reflections on the play and on Sol Kelley-Jones' experiences on his personal blog at http://pastorphilsplace.blogspot.com/.
Copyright ©2009, Capital Newspapers
Broom Street Theater
1119 Williamson Street
Madison
Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm (admission $9)
Sunday Matinees at 2 pm (Admission $6)
Talk Back Sessions scheduled after select Sunday performances:
March 22nd and 29th, April 5th and 12th
Call (608) 244-8338 for reservations.
For more information e-mail birdsarehands(at)gmail.com
or see Broom Street Theater
