{"id":8420,"date":"2014-01-08T08:50:11","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T16:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=8420"},"modified":"2014-01-17T12:27:56","modified_gmt":"2014-01-17T20:27:56","slug":"home-is-a-beautiful-word-looks-at-local-victoria-issues-using-verbatim-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2014\/01\/08\/home-is-a-beautiful-word-looks-at-local-victoria-issues-using-verbatim-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"Home is a Beautiful Word<\/em> looks at local Victoria issues using verbatim theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"

The term \u201chits home\u201d is used often but rarely does it take such a literal sense as in the case of Home Is a Beautiful Word.<\/i><\/p>\n

Set in our own Victoria, Home is a Beautiful Word<\/i> takes a unique look at the issue of homelessness using verbatim theatre, a method that keeps its material especially genuine.<\/p>\n

\u201cVerbatim is an art form that uses real transcripts of interviews in it,\u201d explains Home is a Beautiful Word<\/i> writer Joel Bernbaum, who cites Frost Nixon<\/i> and The Laramie Project<\/i> as some well-known examples. \u201cWhat it allows is for people to speak for themselves, rather than a playwright putting words in their mouths.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Kayvon Kelly in rehearsals for Home Is a Beautiful Word at the Belfry Theatre (photo by Peter Pokorny).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since he began the process of creating the play, Bernbaum has performed more than 500 interviews throughout Victoria, asking the homeless, businesspeople, government workers, stay-at-home parents (really, everyone from children to senior citizens) their opinion on the issue of homelessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was important to me from the beginning to have a holistic view because homeless people are part of the story, but they\u2019re not the whole story,\u201d he says. \u201cIf we stick to that what can happen is it becomes an \u2018us and them\u2019 dynamic.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also explains how surprising each interview was, saying that each time he made an assumption about how someone would respond on this issue, his assumption would be shattered. This is, in essence, the same effect he hopes to deliver to his audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we do our jobs right in the theatre, we are entertaining our audiences and also engaging them in an experience that makes them think about life in a different way,\u201d says Bernbaum. \u201cThat\u2019s important at all times in theatre, but especially with an issue like this, in a city like this. This is a hyper-local piece; how often do you go to the theatre and listen to people talk about streets that you walk down every day?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bernbaum says that the people behind Home<\/i> have an opportunity to give the audience an enjoyable evening, but they also have the opportunity, and the responsibility, he says, to engage them, make them think differently, and expand their thoughts on their city and the people in it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that\u2019s not important,\u201d he says, \u201cI don\u2019t know what is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home is a Beautiful Word
\n<\/i>Until Sunday, January 19
\n$25, Belfry Theatre
\nbelfry.bc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The term \u201chits home\u201d is used often but rarely does it take such a literal sense as in the case of Home Is a Beautiful Word. Set in our own Victoria, Home is a Beautiful Word takes a unique look at the issue of homelessness using verbatim theatre, a method that keeps its material especially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-january-8-2014"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8422,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8420\/revisions\/8422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}