MINNEAPOLIS— A group of young adults want everyone, no matter what suburb or country they live in, to know what it’s really like to live in the heart of the city and sometimes have no place to live at all.
The group writes a fictional play inspired by their real lives.
For one of the writers, Sam Karpeh, the city has been a source of great pain since he moved here from Liberia as a teenager.
“There were a lot of adjustments, I had to learn a new language school and what everything is like,” Karpeh said. “Tough challenges, you know, some made me hopeless, some made me angry, some just made me down. But I’m glad I stuck with it.”
His toughest challenge was dealing with homelessness.
“When it’s time to lay your head down and all you can think about is, ‘Where am I going to sleep? How can I even afford to get a room or a couch, like in someone’s crib?’ Karpeh said. “It (homelessness) is not a choice. Sometimes people become homeless, things happen in life and most of the time people are more focused on judging people than understanding, ‘Hey, it could happen to me.'”
His fellow writers have never been homeless, but they understand city life and grew up in Cedar-Riverside.
“I think with Cedar-Riverside I want people to know the culture that is here,” Mahad Ahmed said. “People who come here and live here just love the community and just love the place.”
It is a neighborhood that they want to show in the piece. They are part of the youth empowerment group Be That Neighbor’s Hope 612 through a partnership with the Guthrie and the help of the iconic theater’s in-house dramaturg.
“I feel like there’s a connection with finding a home, finding a safe place, finding a place where you belong,” Blossom Johnson said.
Hope 612 has a choir and several performances, but this one will be autobiographical thanks to some young people who have come to love theater.
“I laughed for a second, trying to get my nervousness out. Then I got into character. People see 3D movies, I felt like my character was there. That was great. It made me feel good ,” Karpeh said.
They worked on the script for nine months.
“We just took it as an opportunity to try something new, and we liked it,” Miske Salad said. “We speak from our point of view and what we think is the truth and what we want them to hear.”
They hope to get enough donations to have a production on stage next summer.
“You see how we all come from different backgrounds and live in the city, but how do we tell that that story was the goal for me… and write that story that should be out there and told to everyone,” Ahmed said . “There are a lot of people in this city who are very quiet and their stories are not being told and we have this opportunity, we’re just making sure that we can tell a very accurate and true story, that when we write it down, it’s not just us are, but that we talk.” for many people who have the same experience as us.”
They want people to see and feel their story.
“I hope people see that no matter your background or where you come from, the world can be a better place if you work with your neighbor and are with your neighbor,” Karpeh said.
If you’d like to check out Hope 612, they’ll be performing at the Guthrie Theater after a matinee performance of “A Christmas Carol” on December 7.
