The Northwest Herald
September 14 , 2006
Young Actors, Mature Messages
By BRENDA SCHORY
LAKE IN THE HILLS – A father lashes out at his young son, slapping his face and saying that he wished that the child never had been born.
"I can deal with a bump or a bruise on my face," the boy says. "But sometimes what he says – and the way he says it – is more than I can take. The swelling on my face goes away, but the pain from what he says, that terrible pain, never leaves."
As the drama between father and son unfolded Wednesday, about 850 students at Marlowe Middle School in Lake in the Hills sat mesmerized by the performance of a youth performing troupe with a name that sounds like blowing a kiss – MWAH! – Messages Which Are Hopeful.
The assembly was put on by an eight-member cast ages 10 through 17, and packaged a serious message in an entertaining presentation of singing, skits and hip-hop dance.
The actors' lessons of hope and positive behavior in the face of bigotry, relationship violence, and bullying are the same ones the students hear every day, Principal Jake Wakitsch said.
"Hearing it from kids their own age hits home more," Wakitsch said. "They are totally engrossed, totally involved in what's going on. Maybe the message gets through to them better."
The performers also wooed students, as well as wowing them.
When Michael Todd Emery, 15, of Naperville and Josh Jones, 17, of Aurora mingled in the gym's bleachers and touched girls' outstretched hands, they jumped up and down and screamed: "He touched me! He touched me!"
Star power aside, the message was right on, said Casey Sukel, 13, an eighth-grader.
"It hits home," Casey said, particularly the part of the show that dealt with teasing. "A lot of kids do that here."
Kyle Baldemore, 12, a seventh-grader, said the message for him was to always treat others with respect.
"Bullying is bad," Kyle said.
Josh Jones sings to sixth-grader Jessica Cassidy during MWAH!'s performance at Marlowe Middle School. Photo M. Scott Brauer of the Northwest Herald
AJ Weiger reacts as Josh Jones (center right) and other members of MWAH! deliver voice-over
hateful remarks back stage during a piece about tolerance. The performance at Marlowe Middle
School focused on such issues as diversity, self-esteem, and bullying.
M. Scott Brauer of the Northwest Herald