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by Benjamin S. Evans of the Altoona Herald.
Students at Bondurant–Farrar got some tools to deal with the tough issues of life Monday from a group of kids not that different from themselves.
The traveling acting group MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe performed skits that tackled issues like drug abuse and domestic violence, followed by a discussion in the school's library. The goal of the performance: to give hope to students going through a rough time.
"We use all different kinds of arts, like dancing, singing and acting, to enact powerful messages to teenagers," said Ray Moffitt, the group's director. "That's what we are trying to do with Bondurant–Farrar."
The traveling acting troupe is called Messages Which Are Hopeful!, or MWAH! for short, and is comprised of teenagers mostly from the Chicago–area who travel to schools and other venues. Moffitt said the troupe evolved out of an attempt to take teenagers off the street in the Chicago area. The first version of the troupe began as a break dance team created as a "healthy alternative to street gangs."
That group became the MWAH! Performing Arts Troupe in 1993, and in 2001, it became an affiliate of the Chicago Area Project, which is a "service and advocacy agency based in downtown Chicago and part of a statewide community services network targeting at–risk youth and their families," according the group's website.
At Bondurant–Farrar Middle School, the troupe performed skits focusing on bullying, interactions in relationships, child abuse, self–harm, the current NFL scandal involving domestic abuse, and events centering on civil rights in Ferguson, MO. The performers sang, danced and acted their way through an hour–and–a–half performance with messages on how to deal with these types of issues.
"The performance is all about choices," Moffitt said. "Everybody faces choices and the performance is based on current choices teenagers have to make."
Bondurant–Farrar Middle School's counselor Jennifer Turner was key to getting the group to come to the school. She had seen them at a youth conference four years ago and had been working for the past year to set up the performance.
Turner said she wanted the students at the middle school to walk away with a positive message about seeking help and making choices.
"I hope the students walk away with the knowledge that they have a choice," Turner said. "I also hope they understand the dangerous path they will be on if they abuse drugs and alcohol, but that they have people around them they can rely on for support."
The Bondurant–Farrar community is not immune to the serious issues talked about by the performing arts group, as a graduate recently committed suicide, Turner said.
"With this, the issues become so real and the message will be real along with it," she said. "The students will be able to identify with the messages personally, having seen this tragedy recently."
Kileigh Bohewright, a Bondurant–Farrar student who took part in the performance, said the troupe, which consisted of teenagers, connected with her because they were her age.
"It was good that they were younger people, not older people," the eighth grader said. "I could connect with them because they were my age and where I am at in life."
Bohewright also said she thought a lot of classmates could connect to some of the messages in the performance on Monday, particularly when it comes to depression and self–mutilation, like cutting.
"(Students) can connect to the messages, like the one about self–harm," she said. "I know people who do self–harm and with this performance they can see the consequences of it."
One of the actors in the troupe, Chad Sype, said this is the kind of reaction he wants to see from people when they leave the performance.
"We are trying to stand for messages which are hopeful," he said. "We are trying to prevent these things from happening and give people knowledge of what these issues actually mean and what they can do to you."
Sype said that most of the actors in the troupe struggle with the same issues they talk about on stage.
"Like many kids today, we deal with bullying and things like that, and it happens to people of all ages," he said.
Another performer, Lindsay Kent, said the ultimate goal of the performance on Monday was to give people hope.
"We want to let people know that even though they are going through things that might not be common to other people, that they are not alone and that there are always people around you," Kent said.
Click on MWAH! for more information about the MWAH! program.
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