Lysistrata's Children

Event Sponsor/ Location: Theater for the New City

Event Time: Saturday, November 22, 2008

Reflection: I had the wonderful opportunity last week to both watch a play about children being change makers while being somewhat of a change maker myself. Last Saturday, I took a group of residents from the Broome Street Residential College (a dorm here on campus dedicated to service and educational enrichment), including the Community Development Educator and a Residential Assistant, to see Lysistrata’s Children. Based on an Ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes called Lysistrata, the play is a political piece advocating peace. Children withhold love from their parents in hopes that their parents will sign a peace treaty to end the war in Iraq.
The play had an all-child cast from Friendship Seminary, a local school. It originated as a series of skits created by the students, then grew into a larger play, which was put together by the director. The themes of the play tie closely to some of the themes of our class, and as I watched the play, I felt I was seeing the ideals of our class put to action.
The play began with an idea and question: the history of war in America and why do we allow war to continue on from generation to generation? Students sought answers to these questions and expressed concern for our nation and its persistent warfare. As the play continued, the children devised ways they could act on their concerns and end the war. They finally emerged with a solution: create a peace treaty for adults to sign to end the war and show no emotion—positive or negative—thus withholding affection toward their parents until the treaty is signed.
This play was multicultural education in action! Though the story itself was fictional, the fact that the students made a significant contribution to the script demonstrates their committed role in working toward the values of the play: those of peace and activism. The play aimed to encourage its adult audience to question injustice, and be open-minded to all people, regardless of age. Though it seemed a large task, I realized by the end of the play that simply by seeing the play, adults were engaging in activism to a small degree, so these young actors were accomplishing their goal by getting onstage every night in front of adults. I also realized that, though I often feel I am not as much of an activist as I would like to be, by taking residents to see this show, I took one step further in becoming a more active educator.
Following the performance, I elicited feedback from the residents and we had a short discussion on the play. Many residents who were more artistically critical of the show disliked it. However, everyone agreed that the objectives of the show were clear and important. Some residents even commented that they hoped more schools would offer similar social justice opportunities and incorporate current events into the curriculum.