People in 12 Canadian cities can soon see a powerful play about human trafficking written by Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman.

She has A Name opened to positive reviews and sold-out houses in Calgary and Red Deer in February 2011 and is now being prepped for a cross-country tour that starts on May 23 in Lethbridge.

The drama about an abducted young woman who is forced into the sex trade in Bangkok, Thailand, is also slated to run in Saskatoon, Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax, Winnipeg, Calgary, Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna and Edmonton, before ending with Oct. 2 to 6 performances at the Scott Block in downtown Red Deer.

The Burnt Thicket Theatre production is Kooman’s first full-length play, and he’s overwhelmed by its success.

Audience reaction was so positive after the initial run that Kooman said a tour was organized to allow more people to see it. “We sold out every show and at some we were turning away 20 to 30 people at the door, so we thought, something is happening here . . . we’ve got to bring this to more communities.”

The cross-Canada tour, made possible after nearly $100,000 was raised from business sponsors, church groups and private donors, is exciting and is “definitely going to be an adventure,” predicted Kooman, who’s planning panel discussions involving experts on human trafficking.

He will participate in an Ottawa panel with Kildonan-St. Paul MP Joy Smith, who presented a private member’s bill that was unanimously passed by the House of Commons in 2007. It called on Parliament to condemn the trafficking of women and children across international borders for the purposes of sexual exploitation and to adopt a comprehensive strategy to combat human trafficking worldwide.

Kooman was volunteering overseas with a non-profit agency when he attended a conference of sex trafficking that deeply shocked him.

“It caught me by surprise that five-year-olds were forced to service johns up to 20 times a day. . . . It really rattled me, and I had to either do something about it or I had to turn the other way.”

Kooman said he chose to write a play to draw more public awareness. But the drama that’s headed out on tour is significantly different than the one that premiered in Alberta last year.

The play still concerns a Western human rights lawyer named Jason, who tries to save a teenage girl held captive in a Bangkok bordello by getting her to testify against her abductors. The teenager, who is forced to service clients, has lost everything — her freedom, family, home — and even her name. Known only as No. 18, she initially doubts and then desperately wants to believe Jason’s promises of rescue.

The action is narrated, or “haunted” by four voices — the spirits of female victims who did not survive the sex trade. The voices obsess Jason’s dreams and consume the mind of No. 18.

Kooman said he made changes, particularly to the exchanges between Jason and his employer, saying, “scenes with his boss are more dynamic and exciting.”

But he believes She Has A Name retains the emotional quality that resonated with audiences. Despite harrowing subject matter, the play is “palatable,” in that it shocks, without being so disturbing that no one wants to recommend it to others.

“It brings you to the edge without pushing you over,” added the playwright, who had to walk a fine line in what he could depict on stage.

The lead roles will be played by Vancouver actors Evelyn Chew and Carl Kennedy, and the play will be directed by Calgary’s Stephen Waldschmidt.

Audience members who want to take personal action will be directed to the websites of several non-profit organizations through the playbill. One of them will be Kooman’s group, Raise Their Voice, which recently partnered with Lacombe charity A Better World to offer programs to help former sex workers in Thailand find a new life.

For more information about the tour schedule or tickets, go to the shehasaname.net website.

lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com

Plans are underway to take a dramatic play about human sex trade trafficking, written by Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman, on a 13-city North American tour.

But Calgary’s Burnt Thicket Theatre group first has to raise about $400,000.

Kooman’s play, She Has a Name, about a Canadian investigating a brothel suspected of trafficking girls in Bankok, Thailand, premiered earlier this year in Red Deer and Calgary.

It received great reviews during its sold-out run from critics and the public.

Now Burnt Thicket Theatre wants to stage this “must see” show for audiences across Canada and some U.S. cities to raise more awareness about the nameless victims of the sex trade.

“I really believe in this story and I’ve been overwhelmed by the response from audience members who were deeply moved, shocked and inspired by the play,” said Kooman, who is also working with the social justice group Raise Their Voice Against Injustice to see the tour come alive.

Burnt Thicket Theatre is announcing a fundraising campaign that will allow the group to tour the play from May to October of 2012 to Vancouver, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, New York, and other locations.

IndieGoGo is a website that accepts donations from the public in return for various requested perks, such as getting names listed in the play’s program, receiving a free ticket to the production, or even having lunch with the playwright.

Beyond this, Burnt Thicket Theatre and Raise Their Voice plans to unveil a multi-faceted fundraiser, involving corporate sponsorships, private donations, gifts in kind, and special events to raise the bulk of the money needed.

For more information, got to www.indiegogo.com 

A fundraising campaign has been launched to see a local playwright’s critically acclaimed play about human trafficking tour North America.

Burnt Thicket Theatre and Raise Their Voice Against Injustice are planning to take Andrew Kooman’s poignant work She Has A Name on the road next year.

The IndieGoGo campaign for the ‘She Has A Name Tour’ aims to raise $10,000 this summer through social networking. The goal is to secure the actors who will perform some 80 shows in 13 cities across Canada and the United States.

The play premiered in Calgary and Red Deer earlier this year to critical acclaim and sold-out runs.

The story follows Canadian investigator (Jason) who poses as a john to build a case against a brothel trafficking girls into Bangkok. He must win the trust of a young girl forced to work as a prostitute who is known as ‘Number 18’ and convince her to risk her life to testify for the sake of justice.

“Preparing to bring the play on tour feels a lot like what it was to premiere the play this year, only on a much larger scale,” explains Kooman.

“There’s a lot more to plan for and we need to raise more funds. The motive is the same, though. We want to bring powerful theatre to audiences and tell a compelling story that raises awareness about human trafficking.”

Burnt Thicket and Raise Their Voice plan to stage the show for audiences across Canada and in cities in the U.S. including Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, San Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Grand Rapids and New York.

“The feedback from the world premiere has inspired us to take the show on the road so thousands more people can experience the story.”

Winner of the Scripts At Work/Alberta Playwright Network Award in 2009, She Has A Name provides profound insight into human trafficking in southeast Asia.

“Theatre, like addressing justice, is personal: both involve very human and personal responses,” says Kooman. “What better way than to use social media to ask individuals who experienced the play to be part of making the tour a reality.

“The campaign invites people who saw the play and their networks to give small financial donations and offers perks for giving in return. The play has proven to be an effective tool to discuss the realities of trafficking, an issue that is getting greater and greater media exposure.”

Kooman said She Has a Name is based on an incident in Thailand where a storage container transporting more than 100 people ran out of gas and was simply abandoned. Ultimately about 50 people lost their lives. That tragedy was a kind of a trigger for the plot.

“The whole purpose of writing the play was to imagine one life – one girl – caught up in the sex trade. It’s been amazing to see that this play can be used as a catalyst to get people engaged in the issue of human trafficking. And that’s what we really want to do through this tour – to bring this story to thousands more people across North America.”

Supporters say the play is an eye-opening experience to the reality of millions who live in such horrific conditions.

“This play brings the nameless victims of trafficking into our western world and makes them all too close and real to ever forget,” said Mark Wollenberg, the Western Canadian representative of International Justice Mission Canada, an agency that works overseas to secure justice for victims of trafficking.

Beyond the IndieGoGo fundraising campaign Burnt Thicket and Raise Their Voice will unveil a multi-faceted approach that includes corporate sponsorship, private donations, gifts in kind and special events to raise the projected $400,000 it will take to bring the production to 13 North America cities from May to October of 2012.

Kooman regularly travels internationally to write and partners with non-profit organizations to teach on writing, creativity and identity. He has a gift for showing the harsh realities many in the world face while pointing readers to practical ways they can help make a difference.

Earlier this year, a book was released featuring stories by Kooman chronicling the plight of migrants and refugees in Malaysia. He wrote 26 pieces for Disappointed by Hope: 30 Days of Prayer. Although the stories are fictionalized for confidentiality reasons, they are based on actual accounts, case studies and interviews of refugees.

Click on the following link to learn more about the IndieGoGo Fundraising Campaign for the ‘She Has A Name 2012 Tour’.

“There is nothing more dangerous to the perpetrators of injustice than people who believe in their hearts that it must stop and who act upon that belief,” says Kooman of what helps fuel his passion to move forward with the production. “So I guess I’m motivated to engage people personally and be engaged personally to that end.”

Check out www.andrewkooman.com and www.indiegogo.com/She-Has-a-Name-2012-Tour.

editor@reddeerexpress.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SHE-HAS-A-NAME-production-photo-by-Kelsey-Krogman05

PRLog (Press Release) – Jul 14, 2011 – Burnt Thicket Theatre in partnership with Raise Their Voice Against Injustice are planning a six-month North American tour of She Has A Name, a play by Andrew Kooman.

The play, which premiered in Calgary and Red Deer earlier this year, sold out its entire run and received critical acclaim. The play examines the dark world of human trafficking and focuses on a Canadian investigator (Jason) who poses as a john to build a legal case against a brothel trafficking girls into Bangkok. Jason must win the trust of a young girl forced to work as a prostitute who is known only as Number 18 and convince her to risk her life to testify for the sake of justice.

“We’re excited to announce our first fundraising campaign to get the wheels of the tour in motion,” says playwright Andrew Kooman who is working closely with Burnt Thicket Theatre and Raise Their Voice to see the tour come to life.

“I really believe in this story and I’ve been overwhelmed by the response from audience members who were deeply moved, shocked, and inspired by the play. The feedback from the World Premiere has inspired us to take the show on the road so thousands more people can experience the story.”

The IndieGoGo campaign for the She Has A Name Tour aims to raise $10,000 this summer through social networking in order to start securing the actors who will perform in some 80 shows in 13 cities in Canada and the United States.

“Theatre, like addressing justice, is personal: both involve very human and personal responses,” says Kooman. “What better way than to use social media to ask individuals who experienced the play to be part of making the tour a reality.” The campaign invites people who saw the play and their networks to give small financial donations and offers perks for giving in return. The play has proven to be an effective tool to discuss the realities of trafficking, an issue that is getting greater and greater media exposure.

“She Has A Name will open your eyes to the reality of millions of victims in the world today who live in these brutal conditions,” says Mark Wollenberg, the Western Canadian representative of International Justice Mission Canada, an agency that works overseas to secure justice for victims of trafficking.

“But more importantly it will hopefully open the hearts of those who attend to become engaged in seeing human trafficking end. This play brings the nameless victims of trafficking into our western world and makes them all too close and real to ever forget.” Wollenberg insists, “[People] must see it!”

Burnt Thicket and Raise Their Voice plan to stage the “must see” show for audiences across Canada and in select cities in the United States, including stops in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, San
Francisco, Denver, Chicago, Grand Rapids and New York among other locations.

Beyond the IndieGoGo fundraising campaign Burnt Thicket and Raise Their Voice will unveil a multi-faceted approach that includes corporate sponsorship, private donations, gifts in kind and special events to raise the projected $400,000 it will take to bring the production to 13 North America cities from May to October 2012.

Learn more about the IndieGoGo campaign for the She Has A Name 2012 Tour at http://www.indiegogo.com/She-Has-a-Name-2012-Tour?c=home

About Burnt Thicket Theatre

Burnt Thicket Theatre is an emerging Alberta company committed to enliven [restore life to] audiences through original performance, via an ensemble of artists seeking to integrate spiritual and artistic practices in the creation of new theatre works. Burnt Thicket Theatre just completed a successful Western Canadian tour of Hockey Dad: A Play In 3 Periods that included during the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. http://www.burntthicket.com

About Raise Their Voice

With a heart for the oppressed and a mind committed to action, Raise Their Voice, uses story, song, film and practical acts of mercy to address the plight of the oppressed and relieve suffering. raise their voice is incorporated under the Alberta Societies Act.  http://www.raisetheirvoice.com

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For more information, interviews or hi-rez photos, please contact Neil Bousquet directly.

Mr. Neil Bousquet APR, Media Relations, burnt thicket theatre, (403) 256-8834 prwizard@prwizard.ca

Ms. Alida Lowe, Producing Director, Burnt Thicket Theatre, 403-614-7723 alida@alidalowe.com

— end —

Human Trafficking is not an issue to grapple with only mentally, it is one to be wrestled in the crevices of our hearts.

The thought of people, individuals, bought and sold for any number of reasons, forced to live, work, exist under the complete control and abuse of another and their pain is not easily met in our normally safe, comfortable worlds. In order to truly be dedicated to an issue like the ending of modern-day slavery it takes a dedication of the mind and the heart. Creativity can help us draw deeply into an issue that would otherwise be obscured and deepen our commitment to change. When distance separates us and our mental capacities reach their limits, creative expression helps us take the issue to heart.

When you sit in a darkened theater;

When you gaze into the eyes of a girl;

When you feel her cry in your bones and cannot turn the channel or the page, this is when the truth of human trafficking gets inside of you.  The numbers, statistics, black and white photographs, geographic distance, all trickle down to one person feeling the life of another.

In the play She Has a Name by Andrew Kooman, this truth is what you get.

Read the full article here.

She is called Number 18. All we know about her is she’s very young, and was abducted and forced into prostitution.

Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman was inspired to write She Has A Name, a suspense-filled drama about a victim of human trafficking, after hearing of a real-life tragedy in Thailand.

“Fifty people died in a water truck when it ran out of gas and was left by the driver,” said Kooman, who recalled that the people being smuggled in a locked tanker truck across the Malay/Thai border included women and children.

Whether any of them were destined for backstreet brothels is unknown, but hundreds of people are trafficked for exploitation each year. And Kooman remembered thinking, “It’s a really ugly world — really dark. A lot of light needs to be shed on it.”

Read the full article here

Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman’s She Has a Name is a powerful drama ripped from today’s headlines.

It tackles the chilling subject of human trafficking and in particular the exploitation of children who are sold into sexual slavery.

Jason (Aaron Krogman) is a Canadian lawyer working underground in Thailand to expose the network of brothels that offer children to foreign tourists.

The children are too terrified to talk to him until he meets Number 18 (Denise Wong), a girl who claims to be 15 but could be younger and who was recruited six years earlier.

Wong is simply amazing.

Read the full article here

Though the performances of Howell-Holden, Warkentin and Russell likewise grow considerably in focus and intensity once playwright Kooman has the actors gradually step out from behind the stereotypes he assigns them at the start, it is the portrayal by Wong of someone embodying childlike innocence enslaved by fear that galvanizes the production, and gives it urgency and emotional depth. From the get-go, your heart goes out to the character.

And that, in turn, forms the heart of the play.

Burnt Thicket Theatre presents She Has A Name by Andrew Kooman through March 5 at the Epcor Centre’s Motel. Tickets: $20, available online at www.burntthicket.com

A two-act drama premiering tonight at the Epcor Centre’s Motel puts a face to a devastating tragedy that unfolds countless times worldwide. Daily.

We’re not speaking here of natural disasters that exact a human toll, such as famines or floods.

We’re not even talking about war, even war as we have come to know it.

No, we’re talking about a man-made disaster of epic and chilling scale – human trafficking. Slavery. The unconscionable use of men and women, and above all, boys and girls – children – to make a fast criminal buck from forced labour and sex.

The play, She Has A Name, by Red Deer playwright Andrew Kooman, takes us into the lives of a Canadian lawyer who is building a legal case against a ring of brothels trafficking young girls into Bangkok, and a 15-year-old prostitute, known only as number 18, who must risk her life to testify for him.