Greetings! Dear advocates against Human Trafficking. Please join us on May 2 and forward this missive to others in the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. Together, we can make a difference!
Belleherst Productions: ....crossing borders to communicate      

ART to MAKE a DIFFERENCE

        See Me!   Hear Me!
                       
                           A drama from Belleherst Productions
        Giving a voice to the voiceless victims of Human Trafficking
program title block see me

Personal Note

Dear Friends of Freedom,
    In 1999, while traveling from Poland to Germany, I witnessed the trafficking of two young Ukrainian girls into the sex trade of western Europe. Their beautiful, young faces and naive eyes haunted me, as on a daily basis I contemplated their future captivity. Their innocence, their education, their family life, their dignity...their freedom had been deceptively bartered from them for the promise of  "a good job".  They could not know the cruelty, torture, degradation and brokenness they would soon experience. The memory of that day stalked my conscience until I made the decision to produce SEE ME! HEAR ME! as a cry of expression to give voice to the 27 million people in our world (80% are women and children) who exist in slavery...a hell on earth.

All that is necessary  for the triumph of evil is that good men (and women) do nothing. Edmund Burke

Do you care?   After seeing Belleherst's production of  SEE ME! HEAR ME!,  you will.
 
Sincerely,
 
Kathleen Thompson
Belleherst Productions


 
Compassion

Compassion is sometimes the fatal  capacity  for feeling what it is like to live inside somebody else's skin.  It is the knowledge that there can never really be any peace and joy for me until there is peace and joy for you too.   Frederick Buechner

More than 27 million victims world-wide are without a voice...without representation.  They are the invisible, silent cries waiting for the Truth, a Defense, Rescue. Robbed of their dignity and freedom, their suffering should not be hidden from us.  Trafficking transports people from their homes and communities using deception, coercion and exploitation. It affects children as well as adults. The average age of a U.S. domestic trafficked victim is between 12-14 years.  Fear, shame and disorientation keeps victims as victims.  They are often misrepresented as criminals and prosecuted if the trafficker and his/her environment is uncovered. Exposing the industry and giving voice to the victims is an act of compassion which Belleherst believes will assist the abolition movement by creating awareness and motivation to engage in the fight.

SEE ME!  HEAR ME!
Written and Performed by Kathleen Ann Thompson

The Story
Gertrude on phone- See me
    The life goal of Gertrude Simmons, an Ivy League economics professor, is to write a book and secure tenure.  As she embarks on a sabbatical year journey to research entrepreneurship in global markets, she discovers that one of the most lucrative entrepreneurial markets is human slavery. Her number-crunching intellect is forced to confront the  human faces that loom behind the statistics.  She struggles desperately to regain her orientation as the mournful voices of human suffering drown out all others.  Her journey takes her to Poland, Germany, Thailand, Cambodia, India, Dubai, Uganda, Haiti and New York.
    Using projections and the movement skills of physical theatre, Kathleen creates a compassionate and jarring surreal portrait of  the victims, their traffickers and their defenders. In the end, a change must occur, as it did for Gertrude.  The change must first be ours, then something will change for the victims.


The Performer

      Kathleen Ann Thompson is Artistic Director of Belleherst Productions.  She has produced challenging and relevant theatre spanning international borders at: the La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California; Feta (international street festival), Gdansk,Poland; street theatre, Cherepovets, Russia and Indian Kathak dance theatre, Zagreb, Croatia. She is widely appreciated for her movement skills to bring difficult subjects to the stage. As a master teacher, her invitations have taken her to Yunan Art Institute, Kunming, China; Bulgarian State Drama Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria;  Every Tribe Films, Panama; as well as Poland, Latvia, the U.K. and the U.S.A.  She is the author of several plays as well as the inspirational book, Keeper of the Gift.


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About BELLEHERST  PRODUCTIONS

     Belleherst Productions, established in 1982 in San Diego, California has been a California non-profit corporation since 2007. Its focus is to  communicate across barriers of culture, race, religion, age and nationality. Belleherst supports active networking with other artistic groups and NGOs who hold similar views on issues which Belleherst brings to the stage.

     Belleherst uses art to create a level ground for peoples of many diverse identities and histories. This stimulates a vibrant dialogue in which people find universal understanding, compassion and inspiration. Following the performance of SEE ME! HEAR ME!, Belleherst will host an open forum for Q/A and introduce NGOs working to stop human slavery and sex trafficking.  The ideas and communication will continue on the terrace of  the Cinema Paradiso with a champagne toast and an art exhibition.
 

Belleherst Productions Site
 
When and Where

 May 2   at 4: 00pm
Cinema Paradiso


503 SE 6th St.                   Ticket price: $17.50
Fort Lauderdale, FL          (includes champagne and exhibition)
                                                                 
                                                                  Tel: 954-525 3456
 

 For information on exhibiting art items contact:
 Judy Lokits
 954 428 1881