Tag Archives: teens

The SOURCE: How Theatre Brought Me Full Circle


Posted on April 22, 2013 by

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This week it is SOURCE WEEK at The Feronia Project! All week we will be giving you a glimpse into the shining jewel that is The SOURCE. The SOURCE creates innovative theatre, film and videos that directly respond to the needs of youth and young adults. Award-winning, innovative, and provocative, students, educators and administrators consistently evaluate The SOURCE as one of the most effective prevention programs in the nation. The actors in The SOURCE Theatre receive extensive training in theatre, film acting, life skills, and sexuality education in order to give back to the community and the nation by becoming a “source” of life-saving information to their peers.

Today, we’re sharing the powerful story of an alumnus of The SOURCE . . . 

Flashback to ten years ago: I was a complicated, artistic, typically tortured teenage girl with no creative outlet residing in a suburb twenty minutes outside of Manhattan. My teenage angst skyrocketed when my parents made a rash and sudden decision: we were to migrate south to Sarasota, FL.

At the time, if someone had told me this move would be the best experience that ever happened to me, one that would shape the rest of my life, I would’ve rolled my eyes, tugged at my lip ring and bit back with one of those sarcastic sassy retorts that ever-so-easily roll off the tongues of misunderstood sixteen-year-old girls.

A family friend had heard about this incredible “program” Planned Parenthood created called “The SOURCE Teen Theatre.” Even though I wasn’t an extracurricular type of girl and knew nothing of this so-called SOURCE Teen Theatre, something inside me I didn’t quite understand (instinct, I later learned) willed me into checking it out. Alas, the too-cool punk rock chick who rejected everything found herself in The SOURCE black box theatre. I was immediately complimented on my black platform boots by a porcelain skinned seventeen-year-old ethereal-looking beauty with flame-red hair. She introduced me to KT Curran, the Director of The SOURCE, who exuded so much positive energy she almost appeared to be lit from within. Within minutes I was sitting on the floor in a circle with a group of thirty awesome teenagers made up of every style, ethnicity, identity, shape, and size I dreamed possible. Even I had to admit, this was cool. Even I, who had so artfully mastered the default pout couldn’t battle the urge to turn the corners of my lips upward. Was I smiling?

I was hooked. Every week I found myself counting down the days, hours-minutes-seconds- for Mondays to arrive. Those Monday SOURCE meetings were magic, we gained something that didn’t exist in the outside world but were able to take with us in our hearts after we left. We broke down the racial/social/economic barriers that divided us in the concrete school hallways, and in The SOURCE we became a collective, a family. KT creatively nurtured us, challenged our perspectives, and most importantly, created an environment in which we felt safe. One can only find their voice, identity, and purpose when one feels safe. For most of us, it was the first time we had experienced that kind of safety in our entire lives. A lot of us teenagers in SOURCE were creative, sensitive beings falling through the cracks in the pavement, until we found SOURCE. We now had that ever-so-important outlet artistic people need and rarely find. KT listened with a keen ear to our stories and, in turn, created powerful plays about the hardships we teenagers faced. No topic went unnoticed, no voice went unheard: teen pregnancy, bullying, HIV/AIDS, addiction, sexuality, gender pressures…The SOURCE Theatre covered it all. Teenagers in The SOURCE would perform these plays everywhere; public and private high schools, detention centers, churches, community groups, we would even travel in trains and planes and vans around the country (and sometimes outside the country) with our fearless leader KT there to guide and coach us. No matter the age, gender, or race of the viewer there was a pattern of similarity in their responses: “I felt like I was watching real life,” “I forgot I was even watching a play,” or “This has happened to me,” being some of the most popular. Hence our motto to this day: Real life. Real theatre.

I thrived in The SOURCE. I was empowered by using art as a way to save the lives of my peers. I, the girl who was never good at anything besides being detached and cool, became an actress and a role model.

In the ten years after I graduated high school and moved on from SOURCE, I became an international actress and model working in theatre, television, film, and print in Los Angeles, New York, and London. My experience in SOURCE had given me the confidence to fearlessly tackle my dreams, while still maintaining my integrity.

sourceproductionsPictured above: The SOURCE Production Team                    Photo by Barbara Banks

About a year ago I took on the position as Assistant Director of The SOURCE Theatre. It has been the greatest gift in my life. I’m now working with my best friend and mentor, KT Curran, directing teenagers in life-saving and honest performances, running my own SOURCE meetings, and listening to the sometimes heart-breaking stories of young people in our community. SOURCE has greatly expanded since I was a teenager; we win gold Addy Awards, are thriving on the film festival circuit with our short film “Boost”, and we’re completing the second series of our popular web-series “Freefall.” Still, the heart of SOURCE, the core of SOURCE has not changed. Our greatest desire over any award is to educate young people through the art of theatre and film. Every Monday a diverse group of (dare I say) awesome teenagers come together in a circle on the floor.  We engage in the art of listening, acting, breaking down the walls that divide us, and most importantly, we all feel safe. The SOURCE meetings always start in a circle and it’s beautifully ironic because my life, too, has come full circle.

“Life beats down and crushes ours souls and theatre reminds us that we have one.” -Sanford Meisner

Plan B One Step: Too Complicated for Some, Limited Access for All


Posted on December 19, 2011 by

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The week before last, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blocked the recommendation from the FDA to lift age restrictions on Plan B One-Step (emergency contraception that helps to prevent fertilization from occurring up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse – not the abortion pill).

What that means is that the FDA, after years of careful review and analysis, had decided that there was no scientifically indicated reason why the medication should require a prescription for users under 17 (and remain behind pharmacy shelves for the rest of us). This highly anticipated recommendation would have allowed Plan B to move (without prescription) from behind the pharmacy counter to where it would be most effective: on store shelves next to the condoms and pregnancy tests.

As someone who has had to resort to “Plan B” after my “plan A” failed at age 16, I feel personally outraged that the Obama administration has supported the HHS and blocked Plan B, an easy-to-use and incredibly important medication that has less physical risk than Tylenol or tampons!

Despite the FDA’s 10 years of scientific investigation on the medication, Sebelius’s rationale was that 11-year-old girls might not follow the directions correctly and, thus, need continued formal medical oversight (a clinician to tell them to take one pill as soon as possible within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse).

What?! In a nation where just about half of all pregnancies are unplanned, where too many of our teenagers are pregnant, and where millions of women lack health insurance, you’re ignoring their needs because the 1% of 11-year-old girls who might be having sex might take the one pill incorrectly?

Medical experts, including the American Academy of Pediatrics have come forward recommending that Plan B be made available for all ages without prescription; experts in the field agree the directions are simple enough, the medication is safe enough, and that there are no legitimate scientific or social reasons why this prescription/behind pharmacy counter barrier should continue to exist.

Experts aside, what if that eleven year old did take Plan B incorrectly? Logic and science tell me that:
1. The medication would be ineffective and her chances of pregnancy would not be decreased.
2. The medication would be ineffective and her chances of pregnancy would not be decreased.
3. The medication would be ineffective and her … should I go on??

Either she would reduce her chances of becoming pregnant or not. And if we are taking the “common sense” approach that Obama cited, my common sense tells me the physical, emotional  and societal risks of an 11-year-old becoming pregnant and having a child are more realistic than her misreading instructions that say “take this pill within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.” What are the real-life consequences of a girl taking the medication incorrectly? Well, pregnancy!

My “common sense” tells me this decision is not about 11-year-old girls. My unfortunate suspicion is that the Obama administration is buckling to the demands of conservative political opponents and, recently, the Catholic Bishops. I understand that I’m ignorant to behind-the-scenes politics, but I do know that the decision contradicted this administration’s policy to choose science over policy To quote the President in 2010:

“… In this new Administration, we base our public policies on the soundest science; that we appoint scientific advisors based on their credentials and experience, not their politics or ideology; and that we are open and honest with the American people about the science behind our decisions.”

In the spirit of his conservative predecessors, politics trumped science again; and in the spirit of systematic patriarchy, ideology trumped women’s health again.

With Obama entertaining an exemption to the Affordable Health Care Act that would allow religious affiliations to reject contraception coverage for their insured employees on moral grounds, and the stunning blow to Plan-B accessibility, it’s almost like the President has forgotten that it’s election season and WOMEN ARE WATCHING.

Sexual Education: Teens Ask the Darnedest Questions


Posted on November 30, 2011 by

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I speak about Planned Parenthood and the services we offer whenever I have the opportunity. Whether I’m in the grocery checkout line talking about cheap birth control pills to the uninsured cashier or giving impromptu pregnancy options counseling to an esthetician, I’m happy to do it. I am haunted by accounts like Margaret Sanger’s Awakening and Revolt, which reminds me what life continues to be like for women of the world who cannot access family planning services: information is power and power is freedom.

Recently I was asked by a teacher to volunteer at her school’s “career day.” I expected that I would discuss my job roles and duties and spend minimal time discussing the organization I work for. What I found, however, was a school that leapt at the chance for me to discuss age-appropriate, medically accurate reproductive health information with their middle schoolers. I was told that many were likely already having sex and that an elementary schooler had brought condoms to school the week before. The parents had signed waivers allowing the school to discuss sexual health topics with them, so I was asked to answer the questions that the kids had about sex! They divided the groups into “girls” and “boys.”

Three hours and one hundred middle schoolers later, I was completely exhausted. I’d managed to talk about my job role for about three minutes before it was buried below an avalanche of compelling and sometimes frightening sex-related questions. I was able to respond to almost all of them, but referred them to their teachers for those I felt were a bit tricky (e.g., “What does it mean when someone drops the soap in prison?”). As a disclaimer, please note that my entire talk was themed on preventing teen sex, and abstinence was thoroughly encouraged.

These kids had serious questions about their bodies, each other’s bodies, and SEX. There are a lot of adults out there giving their opinions about what kids should and shouldn’t know about the birds and the bees, but I’m here to tell you: they already know more than you’re comfortable with!

Here, I give you highlights from questions in the classroom:

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