Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jan 2013
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Section: Front page
Copyright: 2013 The Vancouver Sun
Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/letters.html
Website: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477
Author: Lori Culbert

TAKING THE ALLURE OUT OF 'E'

Play By Burnaby Mountain Students Juxtaposes Comedy,
Death

A group of Burnaby high school drama students has combined comedy,
medical research and real-life overdose deaths to create a play they
hope will get fellow teenagers talking wisely about ecstasy.

The Burnaby Mountain secondary school drama students say most teens
won't listen if they are being preached to, so their play begins by
handling the dark topic of ecstasy overdoses in a lighthearted way.

"Throughout all this absurdity, they are getting the truth. We give
them facts and we hope they get educated," said Kieren Gadhia, one of
the 24 students who wrote and stars in the play.

"It's a production by students, for students."

The play, called Russian Roulette, was performed 15 times in four
Burnaby high schools before Christmas, and will be staged in three
more Burnaby high schools next week.

The grand finale will be Wednesday at 7 p. m. at the Michael J. Fox
Theatre in Burnaby, a free performance which the actors hope will
attract many parents and their children.

Between late 2011 and early 2012, more than a dozen young people in B.
C. and Alberta died of ecstasy overdoses, many due to the drug being
laced with a lethal chemical called PMMA.

Last February, the B. C. Justice Ministry offered grant money for
ideas about how to effectively warn young people about ecstasy.

The Burnaby RCMP and school district submitted a joint application,
and believed the message would be better received coming from other
young people. Burnaby RCMP Cpl. Neil Roemer, head of the school
liaison/ youth unit, said the unique play achieves what he was hoping
it would: it provides accurate information about the risks of ecstasy
to an age group that is consuming the drug.

"Having [ the message] come from their peers, I think, will make the
youth relate to it more," Roemer said. "They are going to make their
own decisions as youth, ... and we just want them to eliminate this
particular risk from their lives."

Burnaby Mountain secondary was selected to write, produce and stage
the play under the direction of drama teacher Felicity Rudolph, who
pitched the idea of taking the show on the road to other high schools
in the district so many students could see it.

The performance is a 45- minute whirlwind of activity, opening with
fast-paced dialogue between the actors about why they use ecstasy.
"I' m bored." "I want to get slim." "My boyfriend just broke up with
me."

It includes commercials that poke fun at the harms of the drug simply
known as "E," through products like Rose- E tinted glasses and the
drink PopularitE. It also includes a game show called Risk- E during
which the contestants can win prizes like an all-expense paid trip to
the ER.

Suddenly the lights go out and the audience is jolted from absurdity
to reality. The stage is empty except for the words, beamed from a
projector: "Actual 911 call. Dec. 19, 2011."

The room is filled with the heartbreaking emergency call made by
Abbotsford teenager Cheryl McCormack's friends the night she fatally
overdosed while taking ecstasy at a slumber party.

The Burnaby students decided to include a large portion of her sad
story in their play after reading a long Vancouver Sun feature in
September about McCormack and a second young Abbotsford resident,
Tyler Miller, who died within weeks of each other after taking PMMA-
laced ecstasy.

McCormack was an athletic, intelligent high school student who was not
a frequent ecstasy user, and the real 911 call is a powerful tool to
get across the play's message, said Isaac Caverzan, a Grade 11 student.

"As soon as the audience is thinking, ' I'm enjoying the show' - boom!
- - the 911 call starts. We open them to reality, and then we hit them
with reality," he said.

There is a question- and- answer period about ecstasy after each show.
The actors once asked the audience who had used ecstasy, and only one
girl put up her hand; they then asked who knew how to buy ecstasy, and
nearly everyone put up a hand.

"The problem is the accessibility," said Caverzan, who has been
offered ecstasy at parties. "It's a $ 5 pill, and that's what you pay
for your life."

A portion of the $ 24,000 Justice Ministry grant went to the
University College of the Fraser Valley to produce a pamphlet about
ecstasy written specifically for teens, which is handed out at Russian
Roulette performances and will soon be posted online, said the RCMP's
Roemer.

The money will also be used to develop a short high school curriculum
to help Burnaby teachers speak to students about ecstasy. Although the
play wraps up next week, it is possible the concept could be used by
other school districts in the future, Roemer added.

The poster for next Wednesday's free public performance says the play
is suitable for children aged 12 and older. Rudolph, the drama
teacher, said she hopes parents will bring their kids.

"Some parents get scared. They think you are better off to hide it.
But if they see the show, [ young people] aren't going to use ecstasy,
we hope," she said.

"[ The actors] talk the way teens talk, so the play is realistic and
it is truthful."

For the last year, McCormack's mother and sister, who attended one of
the Russian Roulette productions, have visited high schools in several
cities, including Abbotsford, Delta, Hope, Chilliwack and Langley,
along with the Abbotsford police, who produced an emotional video
about the deaths of McCormack and Miller.

Gadhia, a Grade 11 student, has a friend who once took "a bad trip" on
ecstasy, and said the intent of the play is to resonate with teens
tinkering with the drug.

"I hope from watching it that they would stop their use," he said.
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