Theater as Catharsis in Grappling with HIV/AIDS

Most of Hope For Chil­dren’s day­long cel­e­bra­tions include somber tes­ti­monies from com­mu­nity mem­bers who have suf­fered with HIV/AIDS and plays by the youth about fic­tion­al­ized fam­ily dra­mas where HIV/AIDS is a strong theme. Dur­ing the Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tion this past week­end, one play enacted the tragedy of a mother who dies from AIDS because her neg­li­gent chil­dren do not take her to receive med­ical atten­tion in time. The play moved many in the audi­ence, includ­ing the small chil­dren, to tears. While this might seem out of place for a Christ­mas cel­e­bra­tion, the rit­ual is deeply cathar­tic for all those involved and reminds atten­dees of the hard work that the com­mu­nity is engaged in with the help of Hope for Children.

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As part of my Ful­bright project here in Ethiopia, I am explor­ing the influ­ence these com­mu­nity plays have on the films of Sud­den Flow­ers Pro­duc­tions. Par­tic­i­pa­tion in plays at Hope For Chil­dren is one way that mem­bers of Sud­den Flow­ers have devel­oped the sophis­ti­cated sense of per­sonal nar­ra­tive that they draw on to pro­duce their films. One of the films will be screened at the Rot­ter­dam Film Fes­ti­val at the end of this month. “Fight­ing With Father” is a true story about Yonas’ strug­gle with his mother’s death and his father’s alco­holism. Con­grat­u­la­tions to Sud­den Flow­ers Pro­duc­tions and direc­tor Daniel D. Negatu in bring­ing this story to an inter­na­tional audience.