Play about poverty in Waterloo region shares 'stigma-breaking stories' to connect with audiences

A new play called 'Living Below the Line' tells the stories of people in Waterloo region who live in poverty and it's hoped their experiences will resonate with people who go to see it.

'There's a lot of reasons why people became poor,' actor Jeffrey Beckner says

Craig Norris, Kate Bueckert · CBC News · Posted: Jun 15, 2022 7:23 AM EDT | Last Updated: June 15, 2022

A man with a guitar stands in front of a group of people in a church basement. — Director James Gorden (centre with back to camera) leads the actors in a rehearsal. (Craig Norris/CBC)

A new theatre project hopes to shine a light on the realities of living below the poverty line in Waterloo region.

The play is called Living Below The Line and 14 individuals — who themselves live in poverty — have co-created it and and will present it with Ontario's Watercourse Theatre.

Jeffrey Beckner plays a number of characters, including a doctor, the host of a quiz show and he's in a scene about an adult who struggles with being a high school dropout.

"I've been involved with social justice projects or social justice issues for a long time and this is a different way of dealing with it," Beckner said.

"There's advantage and disadvantage in our community and they're in parallel realities, taking up the same space, but they seldom intersect and everything's driven by the advantage, and the disadvantage need to end up dealing with it," he added.

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"There's a lot of reasons why people became poor and issues relating to that so I'm here as a different way of doing that, getting it to a different audience."

'Stigma-breaking stories'

Cate Frid, producer of the play, says she likes to do co-creation work with different communities.

"It's wonderful to have the opportunity to give voice and help stage something that other people would like said, other people's stories. And that's what this is," she said.

Portrait of an older woman. — Kohar Kilejean plays an insurance agent, a vice president and a patient where a doctor prescribes her medication she doesn’t want. 'In high school we had a play, and I wouldn’t be part of it because I [had to] recite poetry. It’s been always my dream to act and this is my chance to do it,' she said. (Craig Norris/CBC)

She said the group worked together to build trust for about a month before they started the process of creating the play.

Privacy was important, Frid said, so anyone who didn't want to share their personal story didn't need to, but some people did.

"Many people felt — or told me they felt — that after they share their stories, they kind of felt like they had a weight lifted off their shoulder and they felt that when they shared it with the group, other people understood where they were coming from," Frid said.

"Certainly these are very stigma-breaking stories, so people feel they're very important to be heard by the community as a whole."

One of the people to share her personal story in the play is Louise Murray.

Portrait of a middle aged woman with glasses. — Louise Murray plays herself in the play 'Living Below the Line' and tells her own story. She says acting in a play has been a dream for her. (Craig Norris/CBC)

"It's a little difficult because it's a crazy story," she said.

She said she's thought about telling her story in this way for a while and she really wanted to act.

"I thought at my age I wanted to be in a play or something. It was something I wanted to do. It's crazy. I don't know why, but I wanted to do that. I want to be an actor," she said.

When asked to share a bit of her story, Murray laughed.

"You need to go see that play," she chided.

Portrait of a middle aged man with a beard. — Timothy Wayne Ryder starts off the play with a poem and is a musician in the play, along with other roles. 'In life, I’ve been a volunteer, I do collect disability myself. I have 100 per cent personal knowledge and friends and many, many, many stories,' he said of why he wanted to take part in the play. (Craig Norris/CBC)

Play resonates more than statistics: Director

Director James Gordon is a singer-songwriter and a Guelph city councillor. He says he thinks the play will resonate with people.

"A song is always better than a speech. A scene in a play often resonates more than if they were reading a document with statistics," he said.

Portrait of a woman and a man. — Cate Frid is the producer of Living Below the Line and James Gordon is the director. (Craig Norris/CBC)

"This is personalizing it in a way that I think the audience will find that there's a universal application to that personal quality, too. And plus the fact that we're witnessing people … They're brave. They're inspiring."

There are five performances in Waterloo region, the first on Friday, June 17 at Wilfrid Laurier University at the School of Social Work, but Frid says she wouldn't be against taking the show on the road.

"I think these stories are so powerful and so compelling that they really need to be heard by as many people as possible," Frid said. "These stories, even though they're very personal, I think they're happening across the province and across the country."