Waldron opens its stage to play by teens in Juvenile Treatment Facility

The John Waldron Arts Center, 122 S. Walnut St., will open its doors Saturday to a small group of young men from the Bloomington Juvenile Treatment Facility. For about 45 minutes, the boys will have the opportunity to perform and express their thoughts and opinions to the public through theater, readings and poems in a project titled, "I celebrate, I mourn, I am." \nThe performance will be a combination of efforts by the Bloomington Area Arts Council and the treatment center. Brent Davison, the treatment facility's recreation coordinator, has been working to bring in artistic projects for the men at the facility.\n"When I was hired on a few years ago, we were just looking to find other forms of recreation for them other than just basketball and football and baseball, other ways to be creative with their talent," Davison said. "A lot of the kids that we get in here have more talent in artistic stuff than athletic." \nSteve Decker is serving as both director and teacher for the young men involved in the project. The group has little theatrical experience, so part of Decker's work was to help them express themselves. He said one of his major struggles was encouraging them to trust themselves and others. \n"How do you get to a point where you can let your guard down enough so you cannot feel ashamed about thinking a thought or expressing yourself?" Decker said. "It's a sign of weakness or a sign of low intelligence, everyone wants to blend in -- not stand out and get picked on. How do you get to a point where you're free enough to share something that's important?" \nDecker has been involved in a variety of theater projects in and outside of Bloomington but said this production was unique. \n"These guys are not typically what you would even say are high school theater students. They're just guys who had an interest in saying something about their world," Decker said. "This is really bare-bone, rough theater. It's just chairs and some words." \nThe young men used the project to work through some important questions regarding their place in the world and strategies for solving problems. Decker said he hopes the show also addresses some important questions for the audience. \n"One of the things I hope is that the audience just hears," Decker said. "I think so many times we adults don't listen enough. It's easy to say, 'Let's just lock our problems away.' Is that really helpful to people? Hopefully people will take a step forward and say, 'Maybe there's a role for me to play in helping the youth of America.'