Iqaluit (May 26/03) - A young girl sits alone feeling rejected. Two young men are jailed after being pressured into breaking the law. Two girls steal the belongings of a third after she drinks herself into oblivion.

"Stop; rewind," an onlooker yells, and a chance at new endings to these sad tales is born.

For a few hours during Iqaluit's hosting of the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention conference, youth and adults had a chance to relive harrowing experiences and right wrongs.

It was pure performance, staged by Iqaluit's Qaggiq Theatre Group and facilitated by David Diamond of Vancouver's Headlines Theatre.

The skits were written and staged to help youth express their fears, hopes and desires in a safe and healthy environment.

Honest and true-to-life characters acted out physical violence and used profane language. The skits were art imitating life.

"It's not Phantom of the Opera or Disney up here, it's reality," said Diamond.

At any time during the plays, any member of the audience could interrupt by yelling 'stop' and take on the role of a character trying to avoid outcomes seemed inevitable. Many discovered that it wasn't nearly as easy as it looked.

Positive changes

Greg Taffe, vice principal from Inuksuk high school, described the forum as "awesome."

He knows many of the 15 youths who participated and he said he was amazed and inspired by the changes he saw in them.

"I look at the crowd and I see a range of kids from ones who have dropped out of school to our higher academics," he said.

"There are people in this group that I never thought would perform in front of an audience. It's phenomenal."

John Dewar, acting executive director of the theatre group, was amazed by the progress the youth made during the process.

From a standing start, the group had just six days to write, rehearse and stage the skits. Many of the youth who participated faced issues of their own.

During the six days Diamond and Dewar worked not only on the concept of the play, but on building trust and friendships within the group.

Isabel MacDougall, one of the youth actors, said everyone became closer.

"We all had our little groups. By the last two days all these groups came together and were all one big group," she said.

Life changing event

The forum did more than expand friendships. It moved some to want a better life for themselves.

Youth actor Chris Henderson said that during his life he has found himself in varying degrees of trouble.

"I've been in trouble for a long time and people always assume I am bad," he said.

"I've never really been that way, I just get caught up in stuff."

Through the theatre group, he said, he has seen it doesn't have to be that way.

"I didn't expect to stay in that group or open myself up the way I did. It was just the vibe that was around," he said.

"It made me see I am a person just like everyone else. We all go through the same things, but we don't see it that way."

Carrying the message on

Diamond said the lessons learned through the theatre project can be carried off the stage into life.

"If you want to honour this somehow, and I hope you do, you'll take whatever you have out of here and use it to make the world a better place," he said.

Many are in favour of using the presentation in Nunavut schools to help youth understand that they are not alone.

"If students see this and are able to interact I think it's a giant step to solving the problems and issues," said Taffe.

Dewar also wants to see the initiative furthered.

The theatre group has one more project scheduled, the development of a local Inuit legend, before their funding runs out.

Without further financial support, however, it will be very difficult, Dewar said.