THE MIDDLE PLACE by Andrew Kushnir, directed by Alan Dilworth, with Akosua Amo Adem, Antonio Cayonne, Jessica Greenberg, Kushnir and Kevin Walker (Project: Humanity/Canadian Stage). At Berkeley Street Theatre Downstairs (26 Berkeley). Opens tonight (Thursday, February 17) and runs to March 12, Monday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Wednesday 1:30 pm and Saturday 2 pm. $22-$49. 416-368-3110. See listing.
Akosua Amo Adem never dreamed that her first professional acting gig would be in a show about her own neighbourhood.
Just after graduating from York University’s theatre program, she was cast by director Alan Dilworth in The Middle Place, the SummerWorks hit that’s been in development since 2009.
Andrew Kushnir’s script, based on interviews with residents and caregivers in a Rexdale youth shelter, is a powerful piece about the characters’ dreams, frustrations and determination. By chance, Amo Adem lives down the street from the shelter.
“I know those voices,” she says on the day of show’s first preview. “When I heard about an audition call, though, I wasn’t going to apply at first, but happily a friend pushed me to do it. When I read the script, I realized that these were people I’d seen, I knew their stories. By living in the area, I’d already done my research.”
She has something else to bring to the production, too. Before studying theatre, Amo Adem spent two years getting a diploma in social service work.
“It was a safer route for me at the time,” she smiles, “but it opened my eyes to lots that needed changing in society. And I also realized during those two years that while I wanted to help, being in social work wasn’t the way. Once you’re in the system, you can’t do as much as someone outside the system.”
Amo Adem plays both a resident (Kaaliyah) and a caregiver (Dee).
“They’re both sides of my personality,” she admits. “Dee fills the mother role, always looking out for others. Meeting the woman herself, I understood that she’s the person in the shelter who keeps it real for the youth, the practical one who points out the need for money and a job if they want to get out of the shelter.
“She breaks down the ways to change their lives into micro-steps, with love and compassion.”
As Kaaliyah, the actor becomes one of the most memorable figures in this work of verbatim theatre her performance won Amo Adem the SummerWorks prize for best emerging artist. Tough, no-nonsense and unflappable, Kaaliyah takes shit from no one, making an impression simply by her compelling presence.
“Kaaliyah is very, very present,” acknowledges the performer. “That comes from a clarity of knowing what she wants, knowing that where she is isn’t where she’s supposed to be. She’s always thinking, clocking everything that goes on around her because she has to. She has a survivor’s instinct.”
In Kushnir’s revised script, Kaaliyah has some new speeches that help define her.
“I think she now has more heart, and we understand why she’s so harsh and sometimes mean. Earlier, she could come across as a bully with attitude, but now the audience gets to see that comes out of the frustration of being where she is and knowing she could be doing a lot better.”
Project: Humanity, which takes the show to Victoria and Ottawa after the Toronto run, has already played a version of the script in local schools and at Theatre Passe Muraille last fall. Most importantly, perhaps, the company presented it at the shelter that inspired the script, with the audience including some of the people who are represented onstage.
“One person in the audience seemed as stiff as a tree when we performed. But when actor Antonio Cayonne talked to him afterwards, the guy said, ‘This play is going to show people that we’re real and have heart and feelings.’
“He was processing the performance, not hating it.”
