A beat to think about

Mennonite theatre troupe tackles restorative justice with drama

March 27, 2013 | Young Voices
Emily Loewen | Young Voices Co-editor

In the basement of Toronto’s Danforth Mennonite Church, two chairs and a laundry basket serve as a makeshift set. Two young actors repeat their lines over and over, practising how to move, when to pause and what to say.

The stage managers watch every move and make suggestions, still wearing their scarves and winter coats to keep warm. The rehearsal space may be cold, but it’s free, and that’s important when you’re a young independent theatre troupe.

This is a rehearsal for Theatre of the Beat’s latest play, Forgiven/Forgotten, which explores the themes of restorative justice through the story of a community surprised to discover it will be home to an offender on parole.

The play, commissioned by Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Ontario, with a cross-country tour sponsored by MCC Canada, is the latest offering from a troupe that strives to inspire conversations about social justice and peace through drama. Two of its recent plays looked at stories of American draft dodgers and the War of 1812.

“We try to do good plays that get critically good reviews,” says artistic director Johnny Wideman, “but we’re also really looking at trying to challenge and sometimes make uncomfortable the audiences, to get them thinking about things that we think are important or that we think could have some light shed on them in a new way.”

The troupe formed after Wideman, 25, finished his drama degree at the University of Waterloo, Ont., in 2009, and couldn’t find work that combined drama with his interest in social justice. He worked in independent film for a while, but missed the connection that forms with the audience in theatre.

So Wideman, who attends Community Mennonite Church, Stouffville Ont., brought together actors Rebecca Steiner and Kimberlee Walker, both 23, and Benjamin Wert, 28, with stage managers Katie Cowie Redekopp and Leah Harder Wideman to form Theatre of the Beat. Wideman, Steiner, Walker, Cowie Redekopp and Harder Wideman all knew each other from residence at Conrad Grebel University College, Waterloo.

The company’s name comes from a combination of theatre terms and the goal of provoking thought in its audience. In theatre, when a script says “beat,” it signifies silence, “pregnant moments when nothing’s happening that hold a lot of importance,” Wideman explains, “so I’m trying to use theatre in that way to kind of create these beats and pauses for us to hopefully think about important things and issues.”

A major challenge for the group has been finding ways to make it financially sustainable. Many of its shows are put on in churches and are admission by suggested donation, which means that if they don’t attract a large audience, there isn’t much to split between six people. However, Theatre of the Beat has found the Mennonite community very supportive of its work. The funding from MCC, as well as a grant from Mennonite Savings and Credit Union, has meant this summer’s tour will be easier than in years past.

While the work may not always be easy, finding audiences who appreciate their work is fulfilling for the troupe’s members. After a showing of Gadfly, a play about draft dodger Sam Steiner, at a fringe festival in Montreal, a group of draft dodgers took the troupe out for lunch and shared their own stories.

“It was just amazing,” says Wideman. “We were just sharing stories and talking about current issues and talking about past issues, and it was, like, a good 40- to 50-year generation gap. It was really neat and really inspiring.”

With its work, Theatre of the Beat tries to appeal to both Mennonite and secular audiences.

“We try to touch on enough stuff with spirituality and faith and pacifism to make the secular kind of community think about things differently,” Wideman says. “And then we try to touch on enough, you know, progressiveness, open-mindedness, sometimes looking at things in as new light as we can, to sometimes make the Mennonite audiences feel uncomfortable.”

Forgiven/Forgotten will tour across Canada after its premiere at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts, Kitchener, Ont., on April 19 and 20. Visit
http://theatreofthebeat.com for other dates and locations.

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