Director Cheryl Nembhard (second from left) with cast members Crileidy Liriano, Nichole Araya-Lentz, Natasha Araya-Lentz and Woodney Pierre
Playwright Cheryl Nembhard is passionate about reaching at-risk youth through the arts and there was plenty of passion on display last Monday when I attended a rehearsal of My Brother’s Keeper, premiering Thursday at the Music Hall Theatre.
Sparks fly between sons and the father (from left) George Franklin, Troy Crossfield and Paul Meisner
The show may be a gospel musical, but there’s drama to burn in the story about two brothers, one an ordained pastor and the other, a drug addict and criminal. Beneath the Cain and Abel story arc swirl sub-plots about marital discord, youth sexual abuse and the power of community.
Nembhard doesn’t believe in pulling her theatrical punches: “The storyline is very hard hitting,” she says. “I don’t sugar coat the issues.”
But neither is it preachy despite the fact that Nembhard herself is an ordained minister. “There’s no evangelizing,” says the writer/director, “we leave that to the church. Our message is, ‘You can make it, get up, move on, it’s not that bad.’ We just stay in the love part, there’s no condemnation.”
Foster sisters (from left) Tashawna Mitchell, Nichole Araya-Lentz, Aijia Waithe and Natasha Araya-Lentz
After years of community work with Toronto City Mission, Nembhard knows that the best way to connect with youth is to give them something to identify with. That’s why she shares her own story about having survived sexual abuse and a life on the streets.
“It’s part of a healing process for me,” says Nembhard. “It was very renewing to be able to take those broken pieces, the pain of it and make it the purpose of my life. This play is a survival song that shows that we are not the pain of our past, we can rise above it and make something of ourselves.”
Pastor and Mrs Thompson, Troy Crossfield and Linette Doherty
“Kids are tired of talk,” continues Nembhard, “but engage them with the arts and they light up, the walls come down. I feel like the most important point in the process is the ability to relate, to let them identify and know that I’ve been there. The thing I hear the most is ‘How do you know I’m going to be okay? What do you know about my pain? And I realized that in order to really be effective in reaching out I had to tell my own story. It connected us instantly and validated me to those kids.
“This generation doesn’t want text books,” she adds, “they want people who have lived it and can show them the steps to take to get out.”
Auntie Cheryl, as she is known to her protégés in some of Toronto’s toughest neighbourhoods, is pointing the way with My Brother’s Keeper and as with all of her shows, she has dedicated a performance — the Sunday matinee – to at-risk youth. “This year we’re reaching out to group homes, child services, foster homes, we have a lot of agencies on standby for tickets. So I’d like to make an appeal to anyone who would like to buy a ticket for an at-risk youth to come and enjoy the show and get some emotional medicine.”
WHERE/WHEN: My Brother’s Keeper at the Music Hall Theatre (147 Danforth Avenue, 416.477.5113), July 14 – 17; tickets $30 – $60 taxes included.
Photos by Christopher Jones
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