Pathways students celebrate Black History Month with a show about childhood in Black communities

Students from the Actors Studio at Pathways join forces with the community to create an intergenerational tribute to Black youth on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

From left to right: Quinn Strassel (producer and assistant director), Mikira Bennett-Cole (performer), Mikeal Henton (performer), Cameron Graham (playwright and assistant director), and Shane Collins (director). Photo: Margie Ruth Morris

Students from the Actors Studio at Pathways are excited to celebrate Black History Month by presenting an intergenerational, multimedia live show that examines the theme of childhood in Black communities in southeast Michigan. 

“Street Songs and the Storyteller” will feature scenes from two original plays, live vocal-looped music, and videos of Pathways students’ interviews with older adults about their childhoods in Detroit.

Tickets to the Feb. 7 show are $10 and available at https://cur8.com/24765/project/128812

The show is centered around an original play written for the students by AAPS and EMU alum, Cameron Graham, who has worked with Pathways students for the past couple of years and says he wanted to write about childhood for this year’s show.

“I don’t know all the circumstances of our students’ lives and what they experience when they leave school,” says Graham, “but to give them space to be kids and play make-believe and laugh together and imagine all the things they could be–even just for an hour or two a day–that’s been the most rewarding thing for me.”   

The play follows a teenage boy named Dom who returns home from his job at Tropical Smoothie to find his three younger siblings unattended, their mom not having returned from work and not answering her phone. To distract and comfort his siblings, Dom tells each one a story, transporting the kids, and the audience, to fantastical worlds where they encounter a giant butterfly, a talking cat, and in one scene, Beyoncé.  Each scene is underscored by original music from vocal looping artist Kyler Wilkins (aka Ki-5) and features AAPS elementary students playing the younger siblings and storybook characters.  

Pathways senior Mikeal Henton, playing the lead role of Dom, says he can relate to the way his character takes on adult responsibilities. 
“I would say I didn’t really get to be a kid as much as I should’ve been,” Henton says. “There were times where I grew up too fast–sometimes based on things I did but other times where I had no choice.”  

Junior Makai Carter-Brame, who plays Dom’s fiery younger brother, Tre, says he looks forward to surprising his friends and family who think of him as soft-spoken.
“I did this to get out of my comfort zone,” Carter-Brame says. “To get better at expressing myself and taking chances and not being so nervous in front of a big crowd, I think it’ll benefit my own person for my future.”  

To celebrate Black History Month, the show will take breaks between Graham’s play to explore the history of childhood in Black communities in Southeast Michigan.  

Some of these breaks will include scenes from “Queen of the Night,” an original play written and performed by Elise Bryant about her childhood growing up in 1960s Detroit.  Bryant, a celebrated labor activist, playwright, and former Ann Arbor resident, was also producer Quinn Strassel’s childhood mentor, directing him in a performance of “To Kill a Mockingbird” more than 30 years ago. 
“I’ve spent my adult life trying to recreate the magic Elise brought into my life as a kid,” Strassel says. “To have her come back from Washington D.C. to share that magic with my students and our audience is among the greatest honors and joys of my life.” 

Other historical breaks will include videos about childhood made from interviews Pathways students conducted with members of the Healthier Black Elders Center (HBEC) in Detroit this past Fall.  The videos feature more than a dozen members of HBEC sharing memories of school, outdoor play, and family life in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s.

Wayne State professor, Dr. Tam Perry, outreach faculty for HBEC says she was inspired by the professionalism and organization of the kids from Pathways. 
“It was clear the students enjoyed and appreciated meeting with the older Black Detroiters,” Perry said, “and the older adults loved the students and were so inspired by how engaged they were.”  

In addition to the partnership with the HBEC (an extension of the Michigan Center for Urban African American Aging Research), Street Songs and the Storyteller also benefited from partnerships and funding from the University of Michigan’s Venerating Intersections of Blackness in Education & Schooling (VIBES) Lab, The Action for Racial Justice and Equity Fund (ARJEF), the University of Michigan School of Social Work’s “Community Action and Social Change” (CASC) minor, and the AAPS Education Fund.  

Street Songs and the Storyteller

Director: Shane Collins
Music Director: Kyler Wilkins (aka Ki-5)
Assistant Directors: Quinn Strassel and Cameron Graham
Written by: Cameron Graham
Additional writing: Elise Bryant, Quinn Strassel, and Ashely Lara
Technical Director: Quinn Strassel
Producers: Quinn Strassel and Margie Morris
Dean of Pathways: Shaenu Micou

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