The students recorded their fears, anonymously, on 3 x 5 index cards:
How will I be able to handle the sickness and sadness of a hospital?
I’m afraid the people I meet won’t like me.
Don’t you feel like you’re invading the privacy of these sick people?
I’m afraid that I’ll meet or talk to somebody at the hospital and discover later that they passed away.
Can my heart take it? And then, will I be able to represent their stories well enough?
It was September 4th and this was the first meeting of The Hospital Project, a theater seminar at ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. The students’ charge? In one semester, create and perform an original work of theater based on the experiences of chronically ill teenagers.
“People’s faces tend to get very grim when I tell them what we’re doing,” laughs Staci Swedeen, a playwright, actor, and co-teacher of the The Hospital Project, with theater director and ECA faculty member Peter Loffredo. It’s been weeks since the students first wrote their thoughts on the index cards, and the class is now in full swing, with the students swiftly approaching their December performance. “They have moved through their fears with incredibly open hearts and spirits,” Swedeen reflects.
The Hospital Project first began in the Child Life Arts and Enrichment (A&E) Program at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital—a program that taps into the innate artistic abilities of young people during their hospital stays. Poet Aaron Jafferis and video artist Laki Vazakas have been resident artists with the program for some time—Jafferis since 2004; Vazakas since 2006. Under their mentorship, hospitalized teenagers have created over 175 individual and group videos and produced two “zines,” magazines of original writings.
Watching and reading the kids’ work, hospital staff became aware of issues they hadn’t fully appreciated before, says A&E program coordinator Janice Baker. Chronically ill teens were having difficulty returning to school. They felt misunderstood. Some were victims of email rumors. Some struggled due to changes in their appearance. “We came up with the idea of using their poems and videos as the basis for an educational project in a school setting,” Baker explains.
Theater was the art form of choice. “Theater is unique in the collaboration that it demands,” says Aaron Jafferis. “So much of the hospital experience is about isolation. Theater allows not just for expression, but also for connection.” So Janice Baker approached Ingrid Schaeffer, head of the Theater Department at ECA, and The Hospital Project was born.
The “generative” phase of the project came first, with the ECA students collecting and creating material. They absorbed videos and writings created by chronically ill teenagers in the A&E program. They worked with Jafferis and Vazakas, who attended the first six classes. They took a field trip: a “sensory exploration,” as Vazakas calls it, to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. During the visit the students learned about medical treatments, visited a patient in her room, and shot some video.
Then in October, four chronically ill teens visited the ECA class. It was a turning point for the students.
“Before they came,” recalls ECA student Sivan Battat, “a lot of our work was about death and illness and all bad things—how dark and cold it is. But they came and talked about all the things they love about being in the hospital, and how their illnesses have changed them as people. We can feel a difference in our work.”
“It brought life—not only into us, but into this project,” says Anna Lasala-Goettler. “Before they came, we said, ‘Well, we’re very ignorant about these things. It must all just be sad and downcast, nothing funny. These kids are sick and what’s good about their life?’ But when we talked to them, we realized they’re teenagers just like us.” Adds student Isaac Shub, “They have stories to tell.”
Karena Dozier was one of the chronically ill young people who visited the ECA class. Dozier, 20, a New London resident who currently attends Three Rivers Community College, has sickle cell anemia. She met Aaron Jafferis two years ago during one of her frequent hospital stays at Yale-New Haven. She was happy to participate in The Hospital Project. For Dozier, who speaks unflinchingly about her medical condition, this was an opportunity to correct some misconceptions—namely, that chronically ill young people are needy and helpless. “I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,” she explains.
“It was very, very fun,” says Dozier of her experience in the ECA classroom. “Everyone was so welcoming. I felt sad after I left them, because there aren’t too many people who care about us and want to know what we’re going through. I’d just met all of these people and I felt I’d known them forever.” But while she and the other chronically ill students were the honored guests, when it came to theater improvisation, the ECA kids were the experts. “We did an improv about a girl who lost her hair due to chemo,” Dozier laughs. “We had three minutes to prepare. I was asking them for tips on how to act.”
Throughout The Hospital Project, the ECA students wrote scenes, monologues, and journal entries. Writing gave them the opportunity to process what they were seeing, hearing, and feeling—and to shape their insights into art. For student Inasia Woods, the writing process took a very personal twist, when her two cousins suffered medical emergencies within twenty-four hours of each other. The day after she visited the hospital with her ECA classmates, she was back in that same place—only this time, for a family crisis. “It was kind of hard to sleep on the couch, with the noises and the nurses going back and forth,” she remembers. “I wrote a two-and-a-half page monologue, from my own point of view as a visitor.”
Artistically, the students are experimenting with a new way of working. As student Jared Silverstone puts it, “there’s no script, no characters, not even a definite plot.”
“From an actor’s point of view,” says student Cassie DeMarco, “you not only want to do justice for the people you’ve seen at the hospital, you also want to do justice for the writer.”
The final performance (open to the public) will include a selection of writings by ECA students, alongside writings and video produced by chronically ill teens at the hospital. Director Peter Loffredo intends to pull the student actors back from the raw emotion of the material, allowing the audience to fill in “that last ten percent.” For Staci Swedeen—who says the piece won’t be linear but rather a series of vignettes—the humor (and there is plenty) will be their guide as they put this challenging material on its feet.
Both teachers are deeply impressed by their students’ commitment, openness and courage. Their writing, Loffredo says, “never ceases to knock our socks off.”
“The students have shown great empathy and sympathy,” Loffredo continues. “Not all of these kids will go into theater professionally, but I really believe that working on this project will make them better people in the long run.”
“This whole process has taught me not to judge people,” says ECA student Dayshona Hardin. “You never know what they’ve gone through, or what they’re going through.” “None of us really appreciate what it’s like to be in class,” Sivan Battat begins. The students laugh. “But once you start missing three weeks of school,” continues Sivan—and everyone begins to nod—“that’s what it’s like for teens with chronic illnesses.” “The day after we visited the hospital, my dad asked if I wanted to go out to eat,” recalls Melissa Ottaviano. “And I said no, I want to go home and cook dinner with you. My parents make the most amazing food,” she laughs, recalling the less-than-appetizing lunch trays in the hospital hallways.
For Tess Chardiet, there was the moment when one of the chronically ill teenagers said, “I wouldn’t trade my illness for anything.” Did that surprise her? “Yes,” she says. “I always thought…” She trails off. In her silence there’s a kind of wisdom, a respect for things that can’t be named. “Yes,” she repeats, “I was surprised.”
The Hospital Project will be performed on December 18 at 7:30 pm at ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon Street, New Haven. For more information, call 203-777-5451.
“I have seen hundreds of people brought to tears and subsequently to their feet in joyful response to this young man’s writing.” -Aleta Staton, New Haven, CT Education Department Arts Administrator
About Aaron
Aaron Jafferis is a hip hop poet and playwright. Read his bio, his CV, or contact him.
The Hospital Project (Review)
The students recorded their fears, anonymously, on 3 x 5 index cards:
How will I be able to handle the sickness and sadness of a hospital?
I’m afraid the people I meet won’t like me.
Don’t you feel like you’re invading the privacy of these sick people?
I’m afraid that I’ll meet or talk to somebody at the hospital and discover later that they passed away.
Can my heart take it? And then, will I be able to represent their stories well enough?
It was September 4th and this was the first meeting of The Hospital Project, a theater seminar at ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven. The students’ charge? In one semester, create and perform an original work of theater based on the experiences of chronically ill teenagers.
“People’s faces tend to get very grim when I tell them what we’re doing,” laughs Staci Swedeen, a playwright, actor, and co-teacher of the The Hospital Project, with theater director and ECA faculty member Peter Loffredo. It’s been weeks since the students first wrote their thoughts on the index cards, and the class is now in full swing, with the students swiftly approaching their December performance. “They have moved through their fears with incredibly open hearts and spirits,” Swedeen reflects.
The Hospital Project first began in the Child Life Arts and Enrichment (A&E) Program at Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital—a program that taps into the innate artistic abilities of young people during their hospital stays. Poet Aaron Jafferis and video artist Laki Vazakas have been resident artists with the program for some time—Jafferis since 2004; Vazakas since 2006. Under their mentorship, hospitalized teenagers have created over 175 individual and group videos and produced two “zines,” magazines of original writings.
Watching and reading the kids’ work, hospital staff became aware of issues they hadn’t fully appreciated before, says A&E program coordinator Janice Baker. Chronically ill teens were having difficulty returning to school. They felt misunderstood. Some were victims of email rumors. Some struggled due to changes in their appearance. “We came up with the idea of using their poems and videos as the basis for an educational project in a school setting,” Baker explains.
Theater was the art form of choice. “Theater is unique in the collaboration that it demands,” says Aaron Jafferis. “So much of the hospital experience is about isolation. Theater allows not just for expression, but also for connection.” So Janice Baker approached Ingrid Schaeffer, head of the Theater Department at ECA, and The Hospital Project was born.
The “generative” phase of the project came first, with the ECA students collecting and creating material. They absorbed videos and writings created by chronically ill teenagers in the A&E program. They worked with Jafferis and Vazakas, who attended the first six classes. They took a field trip: a “sensory exploration,” as Vazakas calls it, to Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. During the visit the students learned about medical treatments, visited a patient in her room, and shot some video.
Then in October, four chronically ill teens visited the ECA class. It was a turning point for the students.
“Before they came,” recalls ECA student Sivan Battat, “a lot of our work was about death and illness and all bad things—how dark and cold it is. But they came and talked about all the things they love about being in the hospital, and how their illnesses have changed them as people. We can feel a difference in our work.”
“It brought life—not only into us, but into this project,” says Anna Lasala-Goettler. “Before they came, we said, ‘Well, we’re very ignorant about these things. It must all just be sad and downcast, nothing funny. These kids are sick and what’s good about their life?’ But when we talked to them, we realized they’re teenagers just like us.” Adds student Isaac Shub, “They have stories to tell.”
Karena Dozier was one of the chronically ill young people who visited the ECA class. Dozier, 20, a New London resident who currently attends Three Rivers Community College, has sickle cell anemia. She met Aaron Jafferis two years ago during one of her frequent hospital stays at Yale-New Haven. She was happy to participate in The Hospital Project. For Dozier, who speaks unflinchingly about her medical condition, this was an opportunity to correct some misconceptions—namely, that chronically ill young people are needy and helpless. “I don’t want anyone to feel sorry for me,” she explains.
“It was very, very fun,” says Dozier of her experience in the ECA classroom. “Everyone was so welcoming. I felt sad after I left them, because there aren’t too many people who care about us and want to know what we’re going through. I’d just met all of these people and I felt I’d known them forever.” But while she and the other chronically ill students were the honored guests, when it came to theater improvisation, the ECA kids were the experts. “We did an improv about a girl who lost her hair due to chemo,” Dozier laughs. “We had three minutes to prepare. I was asking them for tips on how to act.”
Throughout The Hospital Project, the ECA students wrote scenes, monologues, and journal entries. Writing gave them the opportunity to process what they were seeing, hearing, and feeling—and to shape their insights into art. For student Inasia Woods, the writing process took a very personal twist, when her two cousins suffered medical emergencies within twenty-four hours of each other. The day after she visited the hospital with her ECA classmates, she was back in that same place—only this time, for a family crisis. “It was kind of hard to sleep on the couch, with the noises and the nurses going back and forth,” she remembers. “I wrote a two-and-a-half page monologue, from my own point of view as a visitor.”
Artistically, the students are experimenting with a new way of working. As student Jared Silverstone puts it, “there’s no script, no characters, not even a definite plot.”
“From an actor’s point of view,” says student Cassie DeMarco, “you not only want to do justice for the people you’ve seen at the hospital, you also want to do justice for the writer.”
The final performance (open to the public) will include a selection of writings by ECA students, alongside writings and video produced by chronically ill teens at the hospital. Director Peter Loffredo intends to pull the student actors back from the raw emotion of the material, allowing the audience to fill in “that last ten percent.” For Staci Swedeen—who says the piece won’t be linear but rather a series of vignettes—the humor (and there is plenty) will be their guide as they put this challenging material on its feet.
Both teachers are deeply impressed by their students’ commitment, openness and courage. Their writing, Loffredo says, “never ceases to knock our socks off.”
“The students have shown great empathy and sympathy,” Loffredo continues. “Not all of these kids will go into theater professionally, but I really believe that working on this project will make them better people in the long run.”
“This whole process has taught me not to judge people,” says ECA student Dayshona Hardin. “You never know what they’ve gone through, or what they’re going through.” “None of us really appreciate what it’s like to be in class,” Sivan Battat begins. The students laugh. “But once you start missing three weeks of school,” continues Sivan—and everyone begins to nod—“that’s what it’s like for teens with chronic illnesses.” “The day after we visited the hospital, my dad asked if I wanted to go out to eat,” recalls Melissa Ottaviano. “And I said no, I want to go home and cook dinner with you. My parents make the most amazing food,” she laughs, recalling the less-than-appetizing lunch trays in the hospital hallways.
For Tess Chardiet, there was the moment when one of the chronically ill teenagers said, “I wouldn’t trade my illness for anything.” Did that surprise her? “Yes,” she says. “I always thought…” She trails off. In her silence there’s a kind of wisdom, a respect for things that can’t be named. “Yes,” she repeats, “I was surprised.”
The Hospital Project will be performed on December 18 at 7:30 pm at ACES Educational Center for the Arts, 55 Audubon Street, New Haven. For more information, call 203-777-5451.