- File
Everaldo Creary from the group Nomaddz, won the Ministry of Health award for best actor in an AIDS-related drama.
Tanya Batson-Savage, Freelance Writer
WITH A murder rate seemingly racing toward outer space, the report that in 2003 12-13 people died of HIV/AIDS every week may not appear to be a very dramatic figure to many Jamaicans. It does show, however, that HIV/AIDS remains the big kahuna of sexually transmitted infections.
As such, it is a more than timely that some more drama is added to the HIV/AIDS awareness message.
As with many issues, dramatic productions have time and again tackled the issue of HIV/AIDS. The poster boy for these dramatic works was probably the film Philadelphia, starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, which helped to put a very human face on the AIDS epidemic.
While local efforts have not been so grand, HIV/AIDS has had some amount of limelight on the stage, though most often through youth and community groups.
The Ministry of Health and the Philip Sherlock Centre for the Creative Arts at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, St. Andrew, are both continuing to strengthen the dramatic impact. And interestingly, the two institutions are working independently of each other.
The revving of the engine comes in the wake of the Ministry's report that in 2003 there was an 8.2 per cent increase in the rate of HIV/AIDS infections.
The Ministry's report - National HIV/STD Prevention and Control Program, Facts and Figures, HIV/AIDS Epidemic Update 2004 - can be found on the ministry's website, www.moh.gov.jm.
Though described as a 'marginal' increase, the figure shows that there is need to continue the public dialogue regarding HIV/AIDS, which seems to have been losing its sexy bad-boy image recently. Except for those facing the disease themselves, the term 'AIDS Epidemic' just does not seem scary enough. These days, words like 'Bin Laden' and 'Bush' are far more likely to incite fear.
SERIES OF PLAYS
Brian Heap, drama tutor at the Philip Sherlock Centre, noted that the centre decided to work with the university's health centre in an attempt to keep the conversation about HIV/AIDS going.
As such, the centre will be producing three dramatic works which deal with the HIV/AIDS issue during the first semester of the 2004-5 academic year. With over 50 per cent of all reported HIV/AIDS cases coming from the 20-29 and 30-39 age groups, it is quite timely that the university jumps into the fray.
The first of the three production, to be performed by the University Players is One of Our Sons is Missing. The production will be the University Players' second play since it was reformed last year.
The group of players, which features a changing cast, will this time include performances by Nadean Rawlins, Clive Forrester, Lynier Hines and Chris MacFarlane. One of Our Sons is Missing will run for two weekends at the centre, starting the weekend of October 15, 2004.
"What I'm trying to stay away from is to keep it (HIV/AIDS) from being seen as a gay disease," Heap said. Heap's attempt to keep the HIV/AIDS argument straight comes in the face of the Ministry's statistic which states that of the 4,827 Jamaican males who have contracted HIV/AIDS between 1982 and 2003, only 171 were homosexual.
JCDC COLLABORATION
Novia Condell, behaviour change communication officer with the Ministry of Health, noted that drama was an important tool in spreading the necessary messages about HIV/AIDS, because of its ability to make an impact.
In its drive to spread improved HIV/AIDS education across the country, the Ministry of Health collaborated with the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission (JCDC) in this year's drama competition to encourage groups to perform pieces dealing with HIV/AIDS.
Condell noted that Ministry wanted to encourage school and community drama groups to think of HIV/AIDS as a topic they can use in their productions.
At the end of the competition in July, the group Nomaddz walked away with the trophy for best HIV/AIDS drama for their funny, insightful work AIDS Inside/Out.
The Ministry intends to use the work as a part of their HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. The play, which takes a look at the disease from the inside and outside of the patient, will be filmed. However, Condell noted that the Ministry does not want to lose the impact of the production as a live staging.
As such, she noted that it is considering staging performances of AIDS Inside/Out in select schools across the island.
Condell pointed out that students need to be made aware of the impact of HIV/AIDS and their need to protect themselves outside of the school setting to allow them to realise that the disease is more than a subject they learn about, but is actually a real life issue.
Heap and the University Dramatic Arts Society also intend to go into schools with the message, using the production Games by Victor Edwards.
Heap noted that the group intends to conduct workshops along with the performances. The centre's final production for the year will be Taneisha Maghie's Silent Killer, which is slated for World AIDS Day.
COMPLACENCY, WOMEN
The gay stigma is not the only misconception that the HIV/AIDS discussion labours under. There appears to be a far more dangerous one that is taking hold in society. Condell noted that some persons have grown complacent about HIV/AIDS, despite the spread of the epidemic.
"People stigmatise it in a way as thinking of it as something that happens to 'those' people," explained Condell. She noted that, as a result, people were not willingly assessing their risk of contracting the disease. The 'those people' stigma allows them to believe that HIV/AIDS is not something that can happen to them.
This year, 'Women, Girls and AIDS' is the theme for the fight against AIDS. Interestingly, none of the productions being presented focuses on women and AIDS. "I don't think we're looking at all at the issues concerning women," said Condell. This assessment has serious implications given the Ministry's 2004 update.
The document reveals that though there have been more infections in men (4,827) than women (3,270), HIV infection in women is increasing more steadily than in men. Additionally, the document also reports that adolescent females aged 10 to 19 years are two and a half times more likely to be infected than males in the same age group.
Condell argues that women are not taking their own protection sufficiently in hand. "You rarely hear a woman say 'I need to protect myself'," she said. She noted that women also need to think about the totality of their situations.
It seems, then, that there is a very important chapter of the drama that needs greater exploration. Despite that, it does not lessen the value of the ones currently under way.
Though it has begun to gain the distinctly sour taste of a cliché, HIV/AIDS still has no respect for colour, class, or sex. As such, as the various groups unravel the drama persons still need to 'Wrap it up every time'. And the conversation, on and off-stage, must go on.
