Rebecca Pannell

As the former General Manager of Urban Myth Theatre Company I (Bec Pannell) have been exposed to the critical importance of the work of the company with our kids - every week a parent or a child has demonstrated to me how essential this company is to the development, health and wellbeing of these kids and young adults.  Parents have told me how their children who were being bullied at school suddenly found a voice at Urban Myth, how their child who had been depressed now had something to look forward to each week, how parents of our current kids first met at Urban Myth 20 years ago and now, their daughter is attending classes. This company is about community,  it is about resilience and it is about skills. Most importantly, these workshops are - as all of the amazing testimonials on our facebook page talk about - respect.  I have had the privilege of working with young and emerging adults and for over 11 years now, and the Urban Myth kids are particularly special to me. I started at Urban in March 2014 just as the crisis was truly hitting, and in this brief period of time I have come to know the kids, the young adults and the parents and to respect their talent, bravery and sense of community. We may not be able to save the company from insolvency, but we can put on this production, and we can organise for the workshops to continue in some form, somehow, somewhere.  I am determined to make this happen and this campaign is one way of doing it. 



Kat Coppock grew up as one of those 'weird kids'. She found it hard to relate to others in her class, and spent too much time reading and drawing and talking to the air, not learning her times tables or to say please or thankyouverymuch. Her parents decided when she was still quite young to take her to children's theatre classes, where she laughed and learned and ran around grinning and saying all the pleases and thank you's... until it came to show day. Paralyzed by rows and rows of faces expectantly staring at her, waiting...waiting... for lines she had so painstakingly learned... she turned and fled into a life of paints and pencils and words.  It wasn't until years later when the terror of other's expectations had worn off that she could, comfortably ensconced in the dark rows of the audience, appreciate theatre for the wonder it truly was.
Theatre is one of the oldest and most descriptive art forms we have.  Since cavemen have been singing and making marks, they have also mimed, imitated, and acted the same animals on the cave walls.  This progressed into characterization and story telling, a way of keeping stories when there was no other, a way of holding identity, history, and memory safe.  From there- social critique and moral lessons. It brings our attention back where it belongs, within our interactions with each other. It encourages empathy. It stimulates emotion. It provokes and it challenges and it loves and above all it is HUMAN. We take a huge leap and here we are, using all the power of the history of this artform to challenge  apathy provided by the ever-flickering television screens and the disconnectedness of standing in a community space where everyone is absorbed by their phones. We are the ones that created this world and yet we are being forgotten in it. In a world that increasingly devalues live interactions, that discourages touch or play, that views creative expression as a wasteful activity, we are floating apart.  My generation- birthed with the Internet and the amazing technology it provides- is losing its creative place within this world. Our stories and memories and identity have been replaced with electronic files and strings of data owned by faceless knowledge banks, and that scares me. Theatre helps bring me away from all this, back to story, history, IDENTITY that is tangible. During a good play you should be able to reach out and touch the emotion hanging in the air, feel it change you, feel it stirring the blood and the brain..
Theatre is not the only answer to this modern malaise. There are other art forms, but one person can only do so much. It is communities that make all the difference, those that create environments open to play, and imagination and creative learning. What one can bring to many, and what many can bring to one is a line that is so beautifully blurred it extends to us all. Without these pockets, we risk losing our collective stories and memories and identity. Just imagine for a moment... where does that leave us?