“A Hundred Thousand Drops of Rain” Directed by Ed Littlefield, Written by Ishmael Hope
Young "stars" of "A Hundred Thousand Drops of Rain"
Dan and I were headed out to pick berries on this rare sunny day in Juneau, but we got sidetracked by attending the last performance of “A Hundred Thousand Drops of Rain” directed by Ed Littlefield, with assistantdirector/stage manager Austin Tagaban and written by Ishmael Hope, was sponsored by Perseverance Theatre’s annual STAR (Summer Theatre Arts Rendevous) program.
The boy and his dog...
The shaman decides it's not going to hurt to go out on a date; they're just talking, that's all...
The canoe journey to...
The "good woman's" sillouette...
Pleading to have his way...
It is an extremely challenging play, Hope said, based on shamanism and dealing with themes of cultural healing and regeneration.
One of the children in the play told her mother that she didn’t really understand what was going on in the work, which he says, in a sense, “is wonderful.” Growing up, Hope said there were culturally significant seeds that were planted in him by his family and heritage which he didn’t fully recognize until later.
“When I became a man, they continued to help me become human,” he said. “We are not born fully human, we have an unusually long period of growing up. When you’re young, you’re still forming, so when you’re older you go, ‘Wow, there was this thing guiding me the entire time.'”
Cast members included: Kevin Allen, Savannah Strang, Kendrea Makaily, Bryan Johnson, Talia Lee Davis, Maxwell Peterson, Kenneth Morris, Savannah Leisholm, Adriann Rusch, Taylona Lafferty and Kyndra Blacks.
The STAR program is a five-week program that provides Juneau youth with the highest quality theatre training and performance opportunities available in Alaska. Launched by Perseverance Theatre in 1982, the STAR program has provided professional theatre instruction to youth for the past 28 Summers, offering training in acting, directing and playwriting. this specialized training culminates in final, fully-realized public productions. In 2002, STAR was recognized by the National Endowment for the Arts as one of the 16 outstanding American arts programs for young people.
Special thanks to Sealaska Heritage Institute for providing scholarships for Alaska Native students in the STAR program.