We are creating a play called 'Bodies' based on Crawley people's experiences of living with cancer&will put this on for free on Oct 1 at The Hawth. Many artists involved in the play have links to cancer&our project is based on listening & sharing stories from the Crawley-based cancer community. We will involve community via ideas sessions at The Olive Tree Cancer Support Centre & the After Breast Cancer ABC group at East Surrey Macmillan Centre, & recruit some as actors, artists, photographer and crew for a free show on October 1st including a Q&A with audience after the project.
BODIES will explore life stories of diverse backgrounds with
cancer in Crawley & surrounding areas which will inform script development by Raminder Kaur with Crawley based arts company who have produced 4 successful productions in Crawley in the last 2 years and an exhibition based on the stories collected for one of the theatre projects at the new Crawley museum in June 2018.
https://www.sohayavisions.com/
What we'll deliver:
- To organise ideas sessions with local cancer support groups to gather and share cancer experiences.
- To create write and deliver the play.
- To utilise local creative talent and experiences in the Crawley area.
- To have a Q & A session after the play and to educate, promote and share local peoples experiences.
Why it's a great idea:
We wanted to do something different which will raise awareness of something that affects 1 in 2 of our population & to raise funds on the evening to continue The Olive Tree's amazing work. Our aims include :to listen to ideas& share experiences of those who have gone through cancer & include themselves in the Crawley cancer community, to highlight issues that arise surrounding treatment such as loss of hair & fertility from chemotherapy, to understand what having a mastectomy and radiotherapy is like, & how it feels to be constantly on treatment yet live well & indeed thrive with cancer &defy any medical expectations and live well during & beyond.
The script will be part of a multi-media project with acting, movement, music, light & artistic projections that will complement storytelling style - a technique that will enable participants & audiences to creatively go inside and outside the body. It will be allowing the creative Crawley company Soyhaya Vision to showcase their talents.
Steps to get it done:
- To involve the community and listen to shared ideas and experiences surrounding cancer
- To write the play from shared ideas
- To put the play on for 1 night in the Hawth on October 1st
- To promote and advertise what were doing to galvanise interest and support for the crowdfunding &play via all avenues.
Volunteering-We will engage with local cancer support groups in workshops to learn directly about people's experiences of living with cancer & its treatments.Volunteers can develop their careers in arts through help on production (e.g. advertising, ushering, outreach, assisting Production Manager) which will be credited.We will provide a safe space for sharing sensitive stories &The Olive Tree in particular has many years of experience in this field&we will closely engage with their active volunteer community & ask them to promote our arts, cultural & heritage project.
Jobs: We have invited creative arts people in Crawley to participate according to their skills e.g. marketing, photography, acting. We have also encouraged those with cancer to work on the project according to their skills and abilities.
Education:we will educate the wider Crawley community about people who are living with cancer, engage public in Q&A and discuss long term development.