Re:connections
Drama opens dialogue on victim-offender mediation
The energy of a college ministry tour, the reconciliation work of a peace and justice agency, and the life experience of an author converged in the Re:connections drama tour in Saskatchewan, Apr. 27–May 3. Over seven days, Bethany Players performed nine times to audiences from Prince Albert to Swift Current, Sask.
The drama portrays the struggle both victims and offenders experience in moving forward in the aftermath of criminal violence. Wilma Derksen, Victim’s Voice coordinator for MCC Canada, and mother of 13-year-old Candace who was abducted and murdered in the 1980s, provided the script, Re:connections, for Bethany’s touring drama group, Bethany Players. “It was originally workshopped by an offender group and a victim group separately,” says Derksen, “giving it the ring of authenticity.”
The evolution of the tour began several years back with a Bethany College student, Stephen Siemens, interning with Mennonite Central Committee’s restorative justice program. He wanted “something outside the box” for his ministry placement – and he found it. “I couldn’t believe the revolving door of prison, illiteracy, FASD; just how blurry the line between good and evil really is.” It was a fulfilling, transformational experience for him, but he wondered where the church should fit into the countercultural work of restoration.
After graduation, Siemens was hired as restorative justice program coordinator at MCC Saskatchewan, where he continued to ask hard questions. “Church people need to find their niche amidst the pain, within the complexity, embracing real emotions from anger and vengeance to grief, compassion, and forgiveness to those who have been offended, those offending, and everyone in between,” he says, and he looked for ways to help the church find that niche.
His “energetic and electric” experience of “being an agent of encouragement and challenge” on Bethany drama tours led him to consider a tour through Saskatchewan using dialogue and storytelling to give churches a taste of that milieu. Conversations with Derksen brought her writing talents and life experiences to the project, and Bethany came on board to provide the actors.
“Not only did we challenge others with discussion on justice, forgiveness, etc., but as a team, we were also challenged,” said Heidi Neufeld, a third-year student who played the wife of a murdered man.
In preparing for and performing the work, “we gained insight into stories of lives we have not experienced,” says interim director of Bethany Players Nick Boschman. “[Many of us]
haven’t gone through the hardship or pain of a crime, but there any many people who have…. I think this is a place where the church has an excellent opportunity to actively engage with our world.”—KB ______________________
Reconciliation play connects with audience
Re:connections
by Wilma Derksen
Performed by Bethany Players
April 27–May 2, 2010
In Prince Albert, Rosthern, Saskatoon, Warman, Canora, Regina, Moose Jaw, and Swift Current, Sask.
We are connected to the people who hurt us even if we do not realize it. This is one of the messages of Re:connections, a joint project between Mennonite Central Committee and Bethany Bible College, Hepburn, Sask.
Wilma Derksen wrote Re:connections based on real-life workshops with both offender and victim groups. The result is an authentic depiction of what offenders and victims go through when a violent crime is committed.
The play begins with Greg describing the downward spiral of his life. The absolute bottom comes when Greg murders an innocent man named Jack. Greg is haunted by what he has done to Jack’s family and grapples with the hopelessness that engulfs him.
Next we see Jack’s widow, Marilyn, as she is overcome by grief and anger. The memory of what Greg did is constantly on her mind. She eventually realizes that she has the power to choose her attitude no matter how dark the circumstances and reluctantly agrees to meet Greg in an effort to deal with her loss.
Re:connections was written for a secular audience, but the biblical message of reconciliation is unmistakable. Greg and Marilyn meet and gain new insight and peace as a result. The process of healing moves forward as they release each other and start a different life.
This play was wonderful and was well-received by the audience. The production showed great depth in its script and acting.
Although the subject of the play was serious, Derksen injected appropriate pieces of humour, which were welcomed. The Bethany Players did a fantastic job using a small cast to portray a large number of characters without confusing the audience.
Watching this play was a great experience, and I hope Re:connections is produced again so a wider audience can appreciate it.
–Leanne Heinrichs
