On October 19th, our “Before I Die…” project culminated with a performance at Gallery Aferro. High school students from Newark joined two Dodge Poets to take the writings from the wall and craft them into a new performance. They worked all afternoon—sacrificing a beautiful fall Saturday—doing some writing of their own, doing theatre exercises to become comfortable with performing, and creating a reading that was at times funny, at times inspiring, and always human.
Here you’ll find a few photographs, and a few snippets of the writings.
Before I Die I want to…
Be a volunteer
Let everyone know, I forgive.
Gamble with heartbreak.
Slap a hater.
Walk a mile in another man’s shoes.
See the death of bigotry.
Be a hero to someone.
Special Thanks to:
Students:
Adjo, Erica, Odalis, Essence and Naijasia from University High School; Yanice from Science Park High School; Jessica, Amir and Dianeth from North Star College Preparatory High School.
School Liasions:
Karen Gaylord, Community Engagement Specialist at Science Park High School; Donna Grape, English Teacher at University High School and Matthew McCluskey, English Teacher at North Star College Preparatory High School.
Our Poets:
Vincent Toro and Gretna Wilkinson
Our Partners:
Emma Wilcox, Evonne Davis and Jacob Mandel from Gallery Aferro; Jade Lien and Linwood Oglesby from the Newark Arts Council.
One Response to Nine High School Students. Two Poets. And the Dreams of Hundreds.