cracked mirrors

We are delighted to be able to invite you to a special Asia Cutting Edge performance of "Cracked Mirrors". Cracked Mirrors is a bold attempt to understand what children go through as a result of sexual abuse, in a theatre performance. It will be staged at 8pm on Monday 19th November at the Asia Cutting Edge venue. This is the World Day for Prevention of Child Abuse, for the creation of a global culture of prevention of child abuse.

The formal opening of Asia Cutting Edge is at 8.30am on Tuesday morning.

This innovative production will help us face the realities of 'invisible children' that we go on to look at biblically and strategically over the next 3 days in the conference.

If you are participating in the Academy, you need do nothing now as your session will finish in plenty of time for this performance; if you are coming for the conference we recommend you plan for your flight to arrive in Bangkok by 5pm on the Monday to be able to see this performance. Dinner is provided for all participants.

Cracked Mirrors

"…some nights I have eight men, sometimes ten. I don’t get anything. Everything goes to mama san," says Aira while clutching her doll. She's thirteen…

Cracked Mirrors is a bold attempt at understanding the deep pain and suffering children go through as a result of sexual abuse. Through a series of poignant and gripping vignettes, woven together by rap and song, we get a glimpse into the lives of four victims. We meet Aira, a thirteen year-old girl, held captive in a brothel. We learn about Ellen, a young girl molested by her uncle, and we witness Jhao's mental struggle and anger with society’s indifference to his plight as a street child.

The play is performed with striking conviction by three members of Stairway's home grown theater group, TASK (Talented Ambitious Street Kids) who themselves used to live and work on the streets. The authenticity they manage to emote throughout their monologues stems from their personal relation to the issue of abuse that they confront.

TASK (Talented Ambitious Street Kids)
The concept of TASK originated in 1999 with a group of seventeen street children. With the support of professional artists and musicians, they brought their street experience to the international stage with a European tour that reached as far as the United Nations Head Quarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Members of the TASK have also participated in the development of the animations Daughter, a Story of Incest, and A Good Boy, a Story of Pedophilia. Alongside working on creative advocacy under the Foundation, TASK members participate in the daily running of the programs in Stairway.

Performances
"In the serene surroundings of Stairway's Theater Under the Stars Cracked Mirrors has been performed before a large number of groups of GO's and NGO's, students, teachers, social workers, police officers, and church groups as a part of our ongoing information and training workshops on Children's Rights and Child Sexual Abuse Prevention. Most lately, Cracked Mirrors has played to thousands of college students, teachers and police officers and cadets. The feed back we receive is absolutely overwhelming. It is an eye opener to most audiences, and an encouragement to share own experiences of abuse for others. All performances are concluded by the cast coming back on to the stage to share their personal experiences of abuse. This further enhances the authenticity of the performance and leaves no room for denial."

Stairway Foundation, Inc
Stairway Foundation, Inc. (SFI) is a Resource and Learning Center located in Puerto Galera, Oriental Mindoro. Founded in 1990, the foundation has become a haven and a resort camp for marginalized children coming from the streets of Metro Manila. The center provides a supportive environment for growth and development for street children with tuberculosis, and those who were kept in detention. The use of nature and the arts are key elements of therapy. Included in this physical and mental rehabilitation program is the provision of formal and non-formal education.