e - r a c e is an award winning interdisciplinary, hip hop musical performance and DVD adaptation of that live performance exploring young people's obsession with “speed” including fast cars, street racing, amphetamine based drugs, gang involvement and early sexual activity. e – r a c e also examines how the mass media represents these cases in newscasts, Hollywood movies, hip hop music and the detritus of pop culture. The performance is strongly anti-racist, pro-diversity and anti-violence. We began developing this project in January 2001 and have directly collaborated with at-risk and mainstream youth and their supporters in the community on this project since April 2004. The DVD adaptation is being distributed by Moving Images Distribution. For a copy, please visit movingimages.bc.ca.
In June 2006, e-race set designer/sculptor Arnt Arntzen won a Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for his awesome 1965 Thunderbird / Mad Maxmobile.
This performance was presented in September 2005 at Studio B of the Gateway Theatre in Richmond, BC. A DVD/video adaptation of the piece will be distributed internationally in 2006.
presented in September 2005 at Studio B of the Gateway Theatre in Richmond, BC
There have been many cases of youth involved in “speed” including street racing, gang activity and substance abuse in the past five years in Richmond, BC. The most notorious street racing case happened in 2002 when two young street racers caused the death of the popular RCMP officer, Constable Jimmy Ng.
The performance and DVD adaptation of e - r a c e begins with a wrecked car, a cast of young people aged 15 - 27 and works backwards from the crash to the beginning of the race. The young people are non-professionals from the community, and as with all our work, participants are being fully credited for their work on the performance including the writing.
The e – r a c e car is a 1965 Thunderbird, “crashed” on one side, as if it has been in a terrible accident and will form the centre set-piece for the performance and video. The muscle car, a Mad Maxmobile designed and built by artist Arnt Arntzen, will be a giant, active percussion instrument – noisy, grotesque and terrifying. Onstage, this rotating sculpture evokes a beautiful yet terrifying crashed car with electronic and mechanical components that flip out including video monitors, drum sensors, car parts, speakers, platforms built onto the top of the car to enable performers to dance upon the car, etc. This “Mad Max-mobile” will be the “set” at the centre of the performance. We hope to have the car installed as a public art piece in 2006.
The youth “play” the car using drumsticks to tap the metal shell and on the drum sensors placed on the car. Cast members dance on its roof and the entire action of the piece takes place in and around the rotating car. While onstage in the live performance, the car was rigged for video so that when the performers are seated inside the vehicle, their video image will be projected onto a screen on the back wall of the theatre performance space through the use of a spy video camera.
The live performance of e - r a c e also included video integrated into the performance (satirical automobile commercials, diet plan commercials, etc.), dance, new music and image theatre.
The youth and their supporters in the community have many strong opinions on these cases - both for and against “speed” in young lives. The young people also have much to say about the erasure of race in the mainstream media - Richmond has the statistically largest number of first generation immigrants and people of colour in Canada at 59% of the population.
Community members were consulted throughout our creation and development process, in addition to being included in the writing of the text for the performance. The youth of the community are featured as the members of the cast, as well as the interning crew for the performance.
e – r a c e was a 2-phase, 2-year proje ct that uses art as a tool for social change and to build the self-esteem of an integrated group of very culturally diverse at-risk / high risk and “mainstream” youth aged 14 – 27 years old in Richmond, BC. The project also focused on providing these young people opportunities in skill building, youth leadership and arts/career training.
The e – r a c e cast features 10 local youth with roots on five continents including Aboriginal youth – 7 cast members are residents of Richmond, one is a resident of Langley, one is a resident of Ladner and one is a resident of Coquitlam.
The youth cast members include: Astley Au, Pattie K. Burke, Adam Dunfee, Melissa Hafting, Emily Ra, Kascha Rolfe, Lindsay Snell, Theresa Steiger, Patrick J. White and Maxine Yu.
The members of the professional Artistic, Administrative & Technical Team include Elaine Carol, Jules Rochielle, Arnt Arntzen, Rebekka Sørensen, Farnaz Khaki-Sadigh, Adrian Muir, Jennifer Bishop, Ganesh Anandan, Ndidi Cascade, Kaoru Matsushita, Jessica Phillips, Allyson McGrane, Jen Jones, John Langdon, Trevor Tablotney, Esther Oh, Catherine Chiu, Chris Randle, Sarah Sawatsky, Dr. George Tien, Tristin Wayte, Teri Snelgrove, Corporate Graphics and Eric D. Wong.
Funding: e – r a c e is being funded by the Government of Canada through its National Crime Prevention Strategy, Canada Council for the Arts – Inter-Arts, Canadian Heritage – Multiculturalism Program, Vancouver Foundation, Coast Capital Savings Foundation, BC Solicitor General and Public Safety – Safe Streets Safe Schools Fund, BC Anti-racism & Multiculturalism Program, BC Gaming, BC Arts Council, Dr. George Tien INC., Autoplan, Richmond Community Foundation, The Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation and numerous generous donors including Florence Naimer, Karen & Don Dunfee, Gerry Hildebrand, Melissa G. Davis, Sally M. Rogow, Louisa A. Azevedo, Stephens Insurance Brokers Ltd. - Wally Bishop, Grace Eiko Thomson, Fern Vineberg Karpman, Laurie E. Newell, Trikenetic Massage Therapy – Karen Fleming, Elaine Carol, Sheila & Simon Johnston, Nathan H. Gilbert, Estelle Cormier, Rita Wong, Masako & Masashi Matsushita, Brenda Joy Lem, Judith M. Findlay, Rebecca Bishop and Mina Shum.
Sponsors: Gateway Theatre, City of Richmond through the Richmond Arts Centre and Richmond Addictions Services.
In order to build the script, the youth performer/writers participated in
an intensive series of facilitated discussions and structured improvisations
on the issues of “youth addiction to speed” that include a rigorous
analysis of race, class, gender, violence, social development, criminal driving
behaviour, substance abuse, gang involvement, crime and early sexual activity.
Along with feedback from our three Community Forums and Elaine Carol’s
script outline, these discussions were funneled through a complex series
of improvisations and character building exercises form the basis of the
script of the performance.
The Community Forum Series began with one session in September 2004 attended by Constable Jimmy Ng’s parents, who gave us their blessing on our project. In the September 2004 Community Forum in Phase 1 of this pioneering performance project, we asked young members of our panel and audience for feedback on a variety of “speed-related” issues that include street racing, gang activity and amphetamine-based drug use. We discussed Hollywood movies, television commercials and music videos focused on “speed” and work with the young members of the audience, as well as their adult supporters and experts on the panel to deconstruct these examples of popular culture targeted at young people.
In June 2005, we held our second Community Forum in Studio B of the Gateway Theatre with an Open Rehearsal of the scenes and song written to date to an overwhelmingly positive response by youth and adults in the community including secondary and post-secondary students, Richmond-based social workers, ICBC and Autoplan representatives.
In addition, we held an Open Rehearsal / Community Forum in August 2005, to an audience of youth and adults, who gave us our final feedback before the live performance was presented over six nights in September 2005.
We shot and edited a 53-minute DVD / video adaptation of the hip hop musical performance, which is being distributed by Moving Images Distribution.
For inquiries
regarding the distribution of e-race, please contact Elaine Carol at 604-873-6522 or Moving Images Distribution at (604) 684-3014.
Car sculpture by: Arnt Arntzen
e - r a c e performance photos
e - r a c e video excerpts
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Website design by Adjo
Stock Characters: The Cooking Show & e-race photos by Chris Randle
What You Carry With You… photos by jamie
griffiths
THE REENA PROJECT / Outcasts & Angels photos by
Daniel Collins