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Vanilluxe
01-05-2016, 05:27 PM
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/This-American-Life-CASA-play-City-Not-For-Sale-6734609.php

Play about greedy tech people... by school kids how adorable

From the article:

Dianne de Guzman


San Francisco's skyrocketing rent, evictions, and the tech boom were the themes of a 2015 musical featuring, oddly enough, the city's K-5 students.

The idea was so odd it was featured in a recent episode of "This American Life," which focused on one father's befuddled reaction to seeing his kindergarten-age daughter perform songs about some serious adult issues that were the talk of San Francisco.

The musical, "City Not For Sale," was put on by the nonprofit CASA (Children's After School Arts program). CASA executive director Leslie Einhorn said in an interview with SFGATE that despite concern from parents over the complex themes of the play, the ideas actually came from their fifth graders. The teachers worked with students through writing exercises and theater games to develop the musical throughout the year.

"Parents might think that the things they say aren't impacting their kids, or they might think that the changes in the city, that the kids aren't aware of it," Einhorn said. "But the truth is that they are: They were talking about it and they have a lot of questions and a lot of anxieties and they were watching their friends leave San Francisco and wondering what was happening and what they can do. So to be able to talk about it and to be able to make art about it, is very empowering for them."

Writer Jon Mooallem first wrote the article on "City Not For Sale" for Pop-Up Magazine and performed it at a live show, before it made its way to "This American Life." Mooallem juxtaposed the themes of the play with his own family's struggles of deciding whether to stay in San Francisco or not.

"So there they were, these blameless children, up there performing a kind of kiddie grotesque of the same exasperated conversation that all us parents were constantly having behind their backs," Mooallem narrated on "This American Life." "The conversation that more and more seemed to hang over every conversation in San Francisco, then inevitably spiraled into panicked Zillow searches for homes in Oakland, or Petaluma, or Portland."

y Not For Sale" featured evil privacy-stealing tech execs, a song called the "Eviction Blues" and even hipsters. While the central plot of the musical might seem heavy for the kids to perform, CASA has a history of creating plays from a "social justice perspective," Einhorn said. Last year's theme was "San Francisco."

"CASA has this social justice mission," Einhorn said. "With every theme, we're looking at a social justice perspective. Looking at San Francisco at this time, we would be remiss to not address what's happening in the city in relationship to the influx of technology."

"We looked at San Francisco history and looked at all these different social movements in the city and talking about tech," Einhorn continued. "We were handling it very carefully, being aware that so many families have parents that are working in tech."

The seemingly anti-tech sentiment of the play was something that Einhorn ultimately had to address with parents, when a concerned father questioned the contents of the play after overhearing his daughter practice her lines. For Einhorn, the content of the play wasn't meant to be anti-tech, but the villain of the play was greed.

"The villains in this play were greed and what was representing greed was this guy who was in advertising and someone who was in technology," Einhorn said. "Yes, there are definitely a lot of those who live in San Francisco who feel like the city is less welcoming, there's a lot of residents vilifying new San Francisco, but the ultimate message is about everyone coming together."

"The kids got that, no problem," Einhorn added.

Since the episode of "This American Life" has aired in December, Einhorn said she's received a lot of positive reactions to the musical, and said that for the most part, "people really get it."

"Listening to this piece on 'This American Life' made me very proud to be part of this community of people who are brave enough to put these messages out there and to have these conversations that a lot of people shy away from or think that they're too complex for kids," Einhorn said. "In reality, it's the parents who have a hard time having these conversations — for the kids, it's a lot more simple."