February 20, 2006 Source: Mount Allison University:
http://www.mta.ca/news/?id=931 PARADISE REGAINED: A Cross-Border Collaboration, Feb. 27 — March 1 SACKVILLE, NB — The week of February 27 students from Sackville, NB and Brooklyn, NYC are coming together to present a unique theatrical collaboration, PARADISE REGAINED, a play based on Milton’s famous epic poem. The production features seven Mount Allison University students and is being directed by Crake Drama Fellow, Stephen Haff. Seating is limited for all shows and each performance will be followed by an audience discussion. To make your reservation or for more information on any of these performances, please contact Stephen at 364-2229 (shaff@mta.ca). Students are co-writing the play via e-mail, in cross-border pairs. Six students in Brooklyn are participating through the Real People Theater Company (RPT), a company that Stephen founded while teaching at Bushwick High in Brooklyn. Real People Theater Company works with inner-city youth and has travelled widely, presenting reworked classics and modern plays, along with student-directed workshops, at theatres and universities in such cosmopolitan places as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Toronto, Germany, and Sackville. In 2003 RPT visited Mount Allison to perform their production of Tough, a script by the famous Canadian playwright, George Walker. PARADISE REGAINED will be performed at Marshview Middle School at on Monday, February 27. This will be a private performance for students. The group will also perform that evening as part of the Mount Allison African Heritage Society and Society of All Nation’s potluck dinner being held at St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Dinner will be served at 6 p.m. and RETURN TO PARADISE: An Evening of Cultural Reflection will kick off the entertainment at 6:30 p.m. Saint John Community Activist Joel MacPherson will be the guest speaker at the event and a donation of $5 is suggested for admission. Individuals may choose to attend the performances and not the potluck but must specify this when making reservations (shaff@mta.ca). The show will also go on at the Live Bait Theatre in downtown Sackville on Tuesday, February 28 at 6 p.m. Tickets for Tuesday’s performance are $15 and include a pasta and salad buffet catered by Joey’s Pizza and Pasta. Money raised at Live Bait will support the second phase of the project in New York City. Reserve your seat by contacting Stephen at 364-2229 (shaff@mta.ca). The one-hour performance will also take place in the Mount Allison Chapel at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1. This performance is intended for Mount Allison students, staff, and faculty members to promote further discussion in classes. To reserve your spot or a section for your class, please contact Stephen at 364-2229 (shaff@mta.ca). Milton’s poem is a classic of English literature organized around one encounter, the temptation of Jesus by Satan in the wilderness. While Milton’s intentions were sacred, the adaptation will be secular, and will seek to serve as an opportunity to explore this myth, this recurring personal and moral struggle, as it affects all cultures. As Stephen Haff says, "The temptations of the street, of consumerism, of celebrity, of conquest all remain relevant. The students will keep some of Milton’s original 17th-Century English verse, while translating the rest into a variety of languages, including the Spanish, Creole, Patois, Rap, and Street Slang of Brooklyn, and the native tongues and poetries of the Mount A participants." Many countries are represented in the project, including Jamaica, Haiti, Canada, USA, Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Russia, and Hong Kong. Official languages from all countries will be used in the performance, making it a truly cross-cultural event. PARADISE REGAINED is supported generously by Leadership Mount Allison, the Office of the Vice President (Academic and Research), the Dean of Arts, Make the Road by Walking, The African Heritage Society, Diane Murray Barker and Marshview Middle School, Carl Ross (Class of 1984), Michael Gibbens (Class of 1992), the Mount Allison Chaplain, Rev. Kevin Stockall and St. Paul’s Anglican Church, The New York City Department of Education (Region 4), Charlie Rhindress and Live Bait Theatre. For more information and updates on the production please contact Stephen Haff, Crake Drama Fellow, 364-2229 (shaff@mta.ca) or visit www.realpeopletheater.org and go to "Our Projects." —30—
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