Suzanne's Mom's Blog

Photo: Rich Ryan.
Actor Comfort Dolo played the character Helene in Mixed Blood Theatre’s production of The Jungle in St. Paul, Minnesota. 

How do immigrants in refugee camps process their experiences, and how do the rest of us benefit from what they learn about cooperation? One way is through theater.

Myah Goff wrote at Sahan Journal in April about the St. Paul Art Crawl and a refugee play presented by the Mixed Blood Theatre.

“For immigrant and refugee communities, telling stories becomes a means of survival in the disorientation of being uprooted from home — a way to endure, to remember and to imagine a future beyond displacement. 

“In 2015, stories were the currency of the ‘Jungle,’ a refugee camp in Calais, France, where thousands sought refuge at the height of the European migrant crisis. 

“This weekend, Mixed Blood Theatre is bringing the Jungle to the stage, while artists across the Twin Cities are keeping cultural stories in motion at the St. Paul Art Crawl, a local record shop and the Minnesota History Center. 

“In 2015, as millions of refugees fled war and persecution across the Middle East and North Africa, a makeshift encampment known as the Jungle re-emerged in Calais, a port city in northern France. 

“While the world watched the European migrant crisis from afar, London playwrights Joe Robertson and Joe Murphy drove to the camp in a car packed with supplies. 

“ ‘It was a town, in a way — a shanty town,’ Robertson said. ‘They were building restaurants and cafes, schools and mosques, a marketplace and legal advice centers. There were lots of volunteers coming to build women and children’s centers, and we were like, “Well every town needs a theater.” ‘

“Within weeks, the duo fundraised for a geodesic dome, gathered donated lights and staging, and returned to Calais to live in a tent alongside residents for seven months.

“As migrants faced uncertainty, displacement and made frequent attempts to cross into the United Kingdom, a robust arts community began to take shape inside the Good Chance Theatre.

Residents staged stand-up comedy, music, storytelling, kung fu, circus acts and theater performances. 

“ ‘It was a place where people could share and express who they were and what was happening to them in this strange and challenging moment,’ Murphy said. ‘But also a place to go and have fun, and escape those things.’ 

“The Jungle — a site that Robertson described as a ‘miraculous place’ for the way its residents showed up for one another — was demolished by French authorities in 2016, leaving a void that Robertson and Murphy felt a responsibility to fill. …

“Murphy said, ‘That injustice propelled us into thinking about telling that story with some of the people we’ve met in the Jungle camp, alongside other actors.’ 

“This weekend, their play The Jungle makes its regional premiere at Minneapolis’ Mixed Blood Theatre, directed by Mark Valdez. 

“ ‘There’s this lovely moment in the play where the police show up and the people of the Jungle just kneel,’ Valdez said. ‘It’s this peaceful resistance that we will all recognize [after our recent experience with ICE] and hopefully this play makes space for us to think about how to work together now to ensure better policies in a system that is deeply broken.’

“The Twin Cities has ‘proven that we care for our neighbors and that we will take care of each other,’ Valdez added. ‘The European refugee crisis took place 10 years ago and there’s something about that distance that gives us enough space to look at our current issues without feeling the direct heat of what we’re going through right now.’ ” 

More at Sahan Journal, here.