Youth Rising: The show and the movement
Youth Rising: a political show that showcases dance, poetry slam, and video aspects, was performed by a group of youth in our community, including many students from West High.
Youth Rising, a political show and movement that gives a voice to the younger generations in our community and school, was performed at the Englert Theater on Oct. 21. The show, created and directed by Leslie Nolte and Akwi Nji, allows young people from ages 10-20 to voice their opinions about issues in our society including racism, homophobia, and the most recent presidential election. The show provides these 10 writers, 11 actors, and 16 dancers, many from West High, a safe environment to use their voices and bodies to create a powerful performance.
“I decided to create or be a part of creating youth rising after the election when I saw confusion, anger and sadness at West High,” Nolte said. “What really provoked it was when I was at a City Council Meeting and there was a group demanding that the Iowa City Community School District have a plan in place for racism and bullying because of racism, and after that City Council Meeting I decided we needed to give these kids a platform to share how they feel.”
Leen Hamza ‘19, an actor in the show, was drawn to the show as soon as she heard about it through a friend. “Two things I’m very passionate about are social and political advocacy, and poetry. I knew I wanted to do the show when I found out it was combination of the spoken word and youth activism.” All the other performers agreed that this show was very easy for them to get excited about and decide to join in the movement.
One writer and actor, Madeleine Roberts-Ganim ‘19, believes the show is important for everyone in our community. “We have to remember that the youth are a conscious and present part of our national politics although most of the people in the show are under 18 and can’t vote yet we still have influence in the political sphere.”
Roberts-Ganim is an active participant in social activism and participated in the Women’s March in Des Moines. “We are the next generation of voters, we are the ones who are hopefully going to solve our parents mistakes and it’s incredibly important that we get our voices out there and make sure that we aren’t silenced.”
The show was performed once at the Englert theater as part of The Witching Hour Festival in downtown Iowa City on Oct. 21. It was also performed four times on it’s own at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts during the weekend of the 25th in August. There are two more scheduled performances for this show coming before the end of the year, but Nolte has suggested that there will be more performances coming and that she hopes this movement will expand and take off. As for now, you can watch the show here on YouTube.
Follow them on Facebook if you want to keep updated about this movement or if you are interested in attending a show in the future.