By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
CASSOPOLIS - Students from the Youth Club of Cass County will perform the play "The Fifth World" with black light "glow-in-the-dark" effects at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 2.
It will be performed by students under the direction of performing artists Dr. Irene "Ike" Vasquez, Dan Runyan and Benito Vasquez-Runyan from Magical Rain Theaterworks of Kalamazoo.
This 25-minute performance culminates a two-week theater arts project funded by the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs.
There is a diverse mix of students ages 6-18 at the Youth Club of Cass County (Laotian, African American, white), all from this rural area.
This community of students will receive several unusual and highly valuable experiences from this project.
The project's workshops develop student group dynamics through training in such skills as brainstorming, improvisation, constructive feedback and active listening.
This ensemble style of performance demands teamwork, cooperation, attentiveness and a sensitivity to the interplay of the group.
Staging will include ensemble movements, dance, a chorus of voices and "glow-in-the-dark" black light props and special effects that work together to tell this ancient story in a mythic atmosphere.
An Aztec creation myth inspired this Noah's Ark-like story, told in a series of scenes.
In the First World, people remember their instructions (to live with honesty, kindness, sharing and respect), but then they forget (and turn to lying, fighting, stealing and disrespecting each other).
The gods find one good couple, who are saved when the earth is destroyed, and who help form the Second World.