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With skill and compassion, Boz Poon tells his story of forgiveness and hope while Dark Glass Theatre’s associate producer Jessica Garden and TWU’s Christopher Nash look on.
Photo by Chung Chow
TWU’s Trespass shows power of forgiveness
Published 1:30 PDT, Thu September 14, 2017
Last Updated: 2:12 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021
Anyone who has sat at the feet of a good
storyteller, listening rapt to the progress of the tale, knows the pleasure of
hearing firsthand about a meaningful experience.
Many oral cultures are known for their skills
as story-tellers. From the Irish, forbidden on pain of death to teach an Irish
child to read, to our First Nations peoples, to even the oral origins of the
Bible, stories told out loud were to teach, engross, and inspire.
Dark Glass Theatre company originally
designed Trespass as a fundraiser for production at Pacific Theatre in January
of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Ruined.
Since then, Trespass has gained a life of its
own. While the funds raised will help in the January production, this collection
of stories, music and food promises an evening of thought-provoking
entertainment at four different venues around the Lower Mainland. Starting
Sept. 22 in Abbotsford, Trespass then moves to Richmond on Sept. 23 at the
Trinity Western University (TWU) campus before heading on to Vancouver and
Langley.
“The series of evenings exemplifies
forgiveness, in all its forms,” Dark Glass Theatre’s associate producer Jessica
Garden says.
Each show’s participants may vary but each
night Trespass will be, “a performance of true personal stories from artists,
actors, authors,” Garden says. “There will be activities. It’s all very
exciting. We will explore themes of reconciliation, love, betrayal, and
forgiveness.”
For storyteller Boz Poon, there was a lot to
forgive. He says he came to that realization while in federal prison, serving
his 10 year sentence for kidnapping.
“I was a performer signed with [record label]
EMI Hong Kong. Later on, I got in with the wrong friends. That turned into a
kidnapping incident.”
While in prison, Poon says: “I lost all hope.
In my angry state, all I wanted was vengeance against the people who dragged me
down into prison. That was in 2004.”
While Garden’s journey hasn’t involved the
judicial system, her story is no less wrenching and is no less hopeful.
“I would say that in my own journey of
healing, reconciliation and forgiveness, it has been one of not demonising the
other. It’s been about seeing, face-to-face, the common bond of humanity,” she
says.
TWU Richmond campus events coordinator,
Christopher Nash, will contribute a song.
“The story I’m sharing is a little
open-ended. If I don’t forgive, then that’s a burden I am carrying for the rest
of my days. It’s about the process of learning to forgive.”
Reconciliation, particularly working towards
right relations, comes to the fore with Inuit story-teller Lisa Dook.
While many of the stories might start out
sad, they often end on a bright note, showing the value of forgiveness, whether
of one’s self or others.
“You never want to tell an audience what to
feel but want them to go through what I’m going through when I’m telling my
story on stage,” Garden says.
“Dark glass is striving to set a table where
everyone is welcome.”
To that end,Trespasswill be more than just
food for the soul, there will be actual food to eat. “We plan to set a table
where we can spark conversation that will foster empathy.”
While some of the participants come from a
conservative Christian background, Jessica says, “it’s not necessary to be a
person of any faith, let alone Christian.”
Garden continues: “There will be no
proselytizing. If that happens we’ll climb under the benches,” she says with a
laugh.
As adults, we rarely find a venue to
contemplate the important things in life; forgiveness, reconciliation and hope.Trespassoffers just such an opportunity.
“We are hoping that with this show, we will
decrease judgement and increase compassion,” Garden says.
The website for Dark Glass Theatre (URL) sums
it up by quoting The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe author C.S. Lewis: “My
own eyes are not enough for me. I will see through the eyes of others.”
For tickets, copy and paste to browser:
brownpapertickets.com/event/3076588
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