SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Set in a futuristic galactic newsroom, 16 young actors played the roles of news anchors to teach lessons to the galaxy on anti-bullying and using social media.

Young actors across the city performed at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre over the weekend for a colourful show about bullying called We Are All Connected. - photo courtesy of Summer Meyer

We Are All Connected played at the Northern Arts and Cultural Centre this past weekend, where a group of students from 10 to 18 years old told stories about the changing face of bullying within a newsroom setting.

"I see newsrooms and news media as a communcation tool," said playwright Mandy Tulloch. "I played on that with having my co-anchors delivering news to the galaxy."

Anyone between the ages of 10 and 21 were able to audition back in May, but Tulloch selected some of the more charismatic young actors for the show, which included Raven Mutford, Makenna Genge, Nick Woldum and Lydia Taylor, among others.

Since those auditions, students have been hard at work, taking workshops, learning the script and preparing for the show.

"The cast was really dedicated and focused and really gave it their all," said Tulloch. "It was like a well-oiled machine. It was brilliant."

The play covers a wide range of topics from racism, sexism and the everyday taunts children often face throughout their youth.

"It's focusing on social media and bullying and modern technology," said Marie Coderre, NACC executive director. "It's provocative."

While this is Tulloch's first play involving Northern students, she is no stranger to approaching the subject of bullying within her plays.

The long-time actor and playwright had major success in 2013 with her play The Bullying Games, which she said is a play on the popular teen fiction series, The Hunger Games.

In that show, those who have bullied face a panel who must help them understand why they are acting out against others and find a way to make amends with the people they have hurt.

We Are All Connected brings some of the same characters from the play forward.

With three productions under her belt on the same subject, it's clear Tulloch is devoted to teaching children about the effects of bullying and now especially, its connection with social media.

"You don't just give (children) a swimsuit and tell them to swim - you need to take them to swimming lessons," she said. "When handing over a mobile (phone) it must come with lessons of how do I use it."

While the playwright has been an actor since the age of three, the idea to write anti-bullying story lines first occurred upon hearing about one of her drama students who was treated poorly because of her Halloween costume.

The young girl "went dressed as Alice from Alice in Wonderland and one so-called friend - who was around 10 to 12 - whipped off her wig and said, 'You can't be Alice in Wonderland. Alice has blonde hair and blue eyes. You have brown hair and brown eyes. You just look stupid,'" Tulloch explained. "She went home and asked her mom for some baby powder. When her mom asked why, she said 'I want it so I can make my skin white.' When I heard that, my whole life changed. My whole world stopped."

Tulloch mostly presents her plays in Vancouver, where she lives part of the time but hopes to bring the shows to her second home in Yellowknife more often and is already making steps toward doing that.

This May, she is holding open auditions for her own version of Cinderella, which she said relates to other cultures.

"We don't all have to have blue eyes and blonde hair so I wrote nine different versions of the story," she said. "They were all written to that culture so it's not the Caucasian version."