Because it hasn’t been written yet, it’s impossible to say what will take the stage at Northampton’s Academy of Music on Monday, Nov. 16. But this fall, a group of queer teens will get the opportunity to write and perform an original show from their own life experiences, making an indelible mark on the local performance scene.
The Academy of Music and Play Incubation Collective will collaborate on The Brave Space Project, a new theater program for LGBTQ youth ages 13 to 18. Sessions will run at the Academy of Music and 33 Hawley on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., from Oct. 3 to Nov. 14. Registration is currently open.
The program differs from traditional youth theater initiatives in that adults won’t be handing down a script or assigning roles for the teens to perform. Instead, participants will engage in “devised theater,” meaning they will write, edit, direct and perform a script they create together.
“That could be them sharing specific stories of their own literal experience, or they might just come forward and be like, ‘We, as a group, really want to talk about this dragon and create a story [that’s] completely fantastical,’” said Kyle Lawrence, education director at the Academy of Music and co-collaborator on The Brave Space Project. The story they create “really could be anything.”
Lawrence conceived the idea a few years ago to address a lack of existing theater programming in the area tailored specifically to queer youth. At the same time, because many participants in the Academy’s youth programs are in elementary and middle school, “the two ideas kind of ended up melding together,” he said.
“There was a period of time where I was looking at, ‘Okay, do we pick a specific script and do this?’” he said. The more he thought about it, though, the more he realized, “I could pick a script that I think fits … but [I] wanted to include the voices of the youth and the participants involved since it’s for them, about them, with them.”
The program takes its name from the concept of a safe space, but a brave space goes “a step beyond that,” said Sarah Marcus, co-director of Play Incubation Collective and co-collaborator on The Brave Space Project. Marcus will also serve as the instructor for the program. “We’ll do a lot of games and exercises and exploration about what it means to be brave and times that you felt brave, and use that as a lens to create material,” said Marcus.
“A lot of things have moved forward in the world, and a lot of things are hitting obstacles again and being pushed back and pushed against, so simply existing and standing your ground is an act of bravery,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence also emphasized that he didn’t want people to see the program as “Oh, it’s just youth theater. Oh, they’re just kids. It doesn’t actually matter, right?”
Lawrence emphasized that he wants the public to take the program seriously, rather than dismissing it as “just youth theater” or that the work doesn’t matter.
“These are still people who have real thoughts and experiences and lives and emotions, and those deserve attention,” he said. “Those deserve a place, so I think this is important to particularly be leaning into in a scary place and a scary time. … We’re not just staying stagnant in safety. We are also being brave, stepping forward.”
Marcus also noted that in-person programming is helpful in bringing together kids from different schools, some of which may have fewer resources for queer teens than others. It also provides an opportunity for them to connect offline.
“Theater does that, I think, better than anything, because it gives such an exciting framework,” she said.
Lawrence and Marcus originally planned to run the program in the spring, but they did not have enough students enrolled. Now, though, they hope that announcing the program well in advance will help build the interest needed to fill the roster.
Brave Space will culminate with a performance on Monday, Nov. 16 at the Academy. Performing original work at the historic venue provides a valuable opportunity for a young person because, by creating and delivering their own unique piece, the performers are “adding, in a way, to the Academy’s history,” Marcus said.
Lawrence added that a program like this can give young people a sense of belonging in prominent local institutions like the Academy.
“Because it’s such a beautiful historic space, that also can often be perceived as an inaccessible space — someplace of, ‘Oh, that’s too fancy for me. I don’t belong there,’” he said.
Programming like Brave Space can dispel that notion and show young people that “we all can enjoy the nice fancy building,” he continued. “We all can, no matter who we are — we all have a place here. It’s our space as a community.”
Participation in Brave Space costs $30 for the entire program, and financial aid is available. For more information, to register or to apply for financial aid, visit aomtheatre.com/brave-space-project.
