"Hey mom, I'm not getting raped or killed in this one," said Dominique Bozoki, 15, after returning home from a Street Spirits Theatre Company meeting where they were brainstorming about a play about HIV/AIDS.
Blood, Sweat, Tears & Laughter, Speaking the hard truth: A play on HIV/AIDS issues in a northern city, takes to the stage on World's AIDS Day, Dec. 1 at Art Space at 7:30 p.m. but first the group has been asking for input from those interested in addressing many issues. There's already been two workshops with the public and the third goes Nov. 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at YAP Friends, 1148 Seventh Ave., across from city hall.
"We really want people to come to the workshop because from that we will determine what the third act of the play will look like the next day," said Andrew Burton, founder of Street Spirits. "During our first workshop, held Oct. 19, what came out of that was a real awareness of issues about what it's like if you are HIV positive and you get pregnant, so we created scenes that bring some of those issues to light."
Streets Spirits is a social action theatre program that has used the theatre research workshop technique for years, Burton said. The improvised show sees actors challenge the audience to help resolve issues and will promptly rework the scene to suit the proposed shift offered by those watching, creating interesting alternatives to the outcome of the play.
Bozoki, an actor in the play, is a Prince George secondary student, who plays hockey, wrestles, volunteers at Spruce Kings games as a First Aider, drums and is a member of the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation.
She first saw Street Spirits when they came to her school.
"When I saw them perform, I thought they were pretty cool," said Bozoki. "Then I found out my mom knew one of the members and she convinced me to join."
Bozoki is seemingly quite young to take on such a serious topic but she's prepared.
"This is an issue that affects a lot of people and there are many issues, like if someone has HIV and has a baby, there's a chance that baby could be positive and that would affect that child as they grew up and HIV doesn't just affect adults, it affects children and teens, too," said Bozoki.
"And I thought, well I'm a teen and I haven't exactly been affected by it but there's a lot I don't know and I could learn from this - I could teach and learn at the same time."
Blood, Sweat, Tears & Laughter goes Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. at Art Space, above Books & Co., 1685 Third Ave. Admission is by donation.
