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Street
Youth Theater Workshop Report
The Street Youth Theater Workshop at St. John’s
has been serving LGBT Youth in our community since its
inception in August of 2003. It began as a summer experiment
known as the Street Youth Movie Night and morphed into
a Theater Workshop in the fall. The Greenwich Village
Youth agreed to take us on as a work site and supplied
a social work student, two street workers and a van
plus driver. Open to Street Youth between the ages of
13 and 21, the program built as flyers were distributed
and word of mouth spread. Pizza and soda was the standard
fare and thanks to the generosity of our parishioners,
volunteers have never been lacking. We are blessed with
Jim Dowd as our current teacher following in the footsteps
of three predecessors. The first participants were primarily
homeless, having been rejected by parents, schools and
churches in the face of their sexual identity. It was
our intention to give them a safe place to congregate
and instill in them a sense of community and self-worth.
The program has gone through various phases but the
constant is that it has received the support, encouragement
and underwriting of the vestry and parish throughout
.The kids have been included in pot luck and pancake
suppers. Their annual Christmas Party has benefitted
from contributions of home cooked food as well as financial
and volunteer help.
When the Greenwich Village Youth Council went through
a change of management over a year ago, we lost that
volunteer source as well as funding for our food. Concerned
about the loss of a social worker, the vestry offered
to pay for one if the regular volunteers felt the need.
Jim Dowd, Richard Lipscomb, Jeanne Sutton and myself
felt there was no such need given our combined backgrounds
in working with troubled youth, not to mention Jeanne’s
solid educational and hand-on experience as a social
worker.
The kids we minister to are a constantly changing population.
Most have suffered sexual abuse and rejection. Many
have turned to drugs and support themselves by prostitution.
They survive by their wits, are street wise and wary
of outsiders. Last year the group was writing a play
with the promise of performing it with the proceeds
of a grant from Episcopal Charities to cover production.
And then it all fell apart when we lost four principals.
One was thrown out of a shelter and was going south,
another was diagnosed as HIV positive and imploded,
the third entered the wasting phase of AIDS and the
fourth had developed a crystal meth dependancy and was
in rehab. And so it goes.... But it was a turning point.
One of the playwriting survivors brought in nine of
his friends the next week. They were all attending a
program at the LGBT Center in the Village and tended
to be living at home, primarily in the outer Boroughs.
They are more articulate than their predecessors but
share many of the same horror stories and are eager
for the welcome, spirituality and instruction they receive
at St. John’s. Their Christmas party had to be
postponed due to the Transit Strike but was held a few
weeks later with a reading of one of the Mystery Plays,
“The Annunciation” as the centerpiece. It
was followed by a turkey and ham dinner with all the
trimmings and Christmas gifts for all. The following
week, 17 youth showed up eager to become a part of the
Theater Workshop which Jim so expertly, passionately
and sensitively leads. ... God bless you for your continuing
support of this vital ministry.
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