Editor's note: This post was written by Fran Tarr, who produced and directed a documentary film called bethlehem to brooklyn: breaking the surface.
"Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment," said Oprah, whose words resonate with me, and have helped motivate me on my journey to give voice to underrepresented youth through writing and the arts.
One part of my journey began when I saw a performance of “We Are the Children of the Camps” at the Barrow Street Theater in New York City six years ago. The play, which I found powerful and inspirational, is the work of students at the Al-Rowwad Cultural & Theater Training Center at the Aida Refugee Camp in the West Bank of Palestine, led by Dr. Abdel-Fattah Abu-Srour.
That evening Dr. Abu-Srour, an Ashoka Fellow, spoke of his mission “to create a beautiful resistance—concrete examples of theater working against war.” His words touched me. In that moment I knew that I wanted to contribute by collaborating on a playwriting workshop for Al-Rowwad students.
My classroom experience began on Chicago’s impoverished South Side as an educator, and led me to the rough-edge schools of New York City where I became education director of the off-Broadway Women’s Project Theater. It exposed me to children who, despite their daily struggles, possess great resilience and hope.
When I first stepped into the Al-Rowwad Cultural & Theater Training Center, one thing became immediately clear: Dr. Abu-Srour and Al-Rowwad are the lifeblood of the Aida Refugee Camp community. This was evident through the smiling faces of children I met at every turn, involved in Dabka dance training, getting help with their homework, or gaining computer skills.
At Al-Rowwad, I witnessed first-hand the students' talent, energy, and focus. Our first discussion was humorous, thoughtful, provocative, and inspirational. It began our collaboration in which these teens chose to share their resilience with me.
Husam, his baseball cap on backwards, the scabs from rubber bullets showing on his neck, worked so diligently and enthusiastically on his monologue that I couldn’t help but wish to clone him, and scatter him across the world. His monologue was about 65-year-old Hammad, a man convincing a casting director that although he may have spent his life as a poor laborer, he’s the perfect choice for a romantic comedy actor.
Husam’s monologue poignantly and cleverly intertwined fate and destiny, and mesmerized his audience. I congratulated him, “Today Aida, tomorrow Egyptian TV!”
He shyly said, “I always felt like a failure at writing, my teachers told me I’m a failure. Then you (Fran) arrived and I learned I can write, and I feel proud.” The other teenagers nodded in silent agreement.
In that beautiful moment, my feelings from leading Women’s Project workshops in Brooklyn resurfaced—it brought to mind the issue of assumptions, breaking through media stereotypes, and the similar issues facing all teens—and I began to dream about how to introduce these wonderful teens and share the power of their words.
The idea for a documentary film that challenges the media’s negative image of teens in Bethlehem and Brooklyn came alive in my mind. With Dr. Abu-Srour’s moral support bethlehem to brooklyn: breaking the surface was born.
As producer and director of bethlehem to brooklyn: breaking the surface, I was determined to expose the heart-wrenching resilience of black teens from Brooklyn, and Palestinian teenagers from Bethlehem, proving that both they and their peers are not victims or predators, but an integral, valuable part of the solution to dispel misunderstandings and rectify misconceptions. They could literally help break-down media bias and “adult” perceptions.
bethlehem to brooklyn: breaking the surface met with much success: screenings at film festivals and educational institutions, interest from the renowned Facing History and Ourselves teacher development program, and, most meaningful to me, Dr. Abu-Srour’s words: “This is a beautiful film.”
From there my second documentary, brooklyn bridges- to bethlehem & back (2011), blossomed as cameras followed three inner-city Brooklyn teens to Bethlehem to use words to showcase their resilience amid the struggles they live with every day. After a 12-day shoot, during which the nine cast members from Al-Rowwad and Brooklyn created a collage play while sharing life experiences, the entire group flew to Brooklyn.
Here they rehearsed, shared Brooklyn life experiences, and performed the collage play for a live audience. The audience’s reaction to the teens’ words was positive and heartfelt.
The Bethlehem and Brooklyn teens do not want their brooklyn bridges- to bethlehem & back documentary to be the last stop for their achievement. In the words of Sofia Ramadan, “We created this bridge—now we want everyone, no matter the race, religion, or culture, to join us.”
They are dedicated to deep-seated social change, defining social activism as the best opportunity to give a voice to underrepresented kids as they move into adulthood and 21st century leadership positions. This brings me to the next crucial step in this cycle of inspiration and change: creating breaking walls.
There are two truly exhilarating aspects to breaking walls: that these youth from Bethlehem and Brooklyn—who are usually seen as the kids in need of an intervention—will be taking the world stage as creative leaders, and that the brooklyn bridges cast members will become the facilitators of the breaking walls writing-performing workshops.
Listen to the brooklyn bridges cast members/breaking walls facilitators voices speaking about breaking walls:
“breaking walls is important because all the world has problems, we should listen to these problems and write about these problems, because hand-in-hand we can do anything.” —Mahmoud Abu Srour
“So many kids in my Brooklyn neighborhood are at-risk, like I was, I’m proud to be a part of changing that.” —Ryan Smith
The first breaking walls writing-performing/social activism workshop will bring together teens from Bethlehem and Brooklyn to collaborate with teens in Berlin, Germany in July 2012, and will be a precursor to a series of workshops to be created worldwide.
And this leads me full circle back to the words that inspire and motivate me: "Doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment." Dr. Abu-Srour’s work and inspiration continue to transform each of my moments into building blocks for teen empowerment.
The content of this blog reflects the views of its author exclusively.
