Steel Kiss at Green Thumb Theatre
Special Benefit Performance Feb 19 2008 for Actor's Fund of Canada
Steel Kiss is about trying to find light in what seems to be eternal darkness. In the same way The Actor's Fund finds hope for artists who struggle in hard times.
Vancouver's Green Thumb Theatre explores contemporary issues with an emphasis on "entertainment, enlightenment and education." Robin Fulford's Steel Kiss about the horrors of homophobia is a piece written to stimulate, educate, and encourage audience discourse to hopefully bring about some positive change.
Matthew Shepard, Aaron Webster, and Kenneth Zeller were three men who were beaten to death because they were gay. In all three of these cases, drunken young men decided it was their right to go out and kill gay men for kicks. The most well known of the three is the case of Matthew Shepard. Shepard was pistol whipped, tortured and tied to a fence like a defenceless animal. When he was first discovered, his rescuer thought Shepard was a scarecrow.
The Laramie Project written by Moises Kaufman about the tragic circumstances surrounding Shepard’s life and death, became a play that has been performed in schools around the country.The Laramie Project was a chilling wake up call – solid proof that homophobia is still deeply ingrained into today’s culture.
The case of Vancouver’s Aaron Webster involved two underaged men whose main objective was to drink themselves silly and then go out to the park and stalk prey with golf clubs and baseball bats – “the thug brigade.” To the shock of Vancouver’s gay community, one of the men was acquitted due to lack of evidence.
Steel Kiss written by Toronto playwright / teacher Robin Fulford, is about the vicious slaying of Toronto high school teacher Kenneth Zeller, who was kicked to death in High Park in 1985 by five youths “celebrating” the end of high school life. Though the play was written in 1987, it stills carries a powerful message – how do these normal teenagers turn into young men with no moral conscience and why do these crimes continue? To quote David Bowie – Look in their eyes and there’s nobody home.
Green Thumb Theatre presents Steel Kiss as a benefit for the Actors Fund of Canada on Tuesday February 19, 2008 at 8:00 pm at the Waterfront Theatre, Granville Island, Vancouver. The performance is open to the public. Tickets are available through Tickets Tonight at ticketstonight.ca or on a pay-what-you-can basis at the door.
Green Thumb Theatre General Manager Ivan Habel says, “We are thrilled to be able to support the Actors’ Fund of Canada with a benefit performance of this important play. Although the play exposes painful realities and confronts us with dark images, it contains a message that ultimately points us towards a brighter future. In a similar way, the Actors’ Fund helps members of the arts community who are experiencing extreme financial and emotional difficulties gain strength and renewed hope after a very dark time in their lives.”
Actors’ Fund of Canada Executive Director David Hope adds, “Support from theatre companies is essential in order for the Actors’ Fund to carry out its mission. Green Thumb Theatre is a great example of how companies that present programming for all ages can find ways to contribute to the Fund and, in so doing, benefit the entire performing arts community.”
Steel Kiss by Robin Fulford continues at Vancouver’s Green Thumb Theatre to February 24.
Robin Fulford's latest play Whitewash opens Feb 28 and runs to March 2 at the Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace.
