By Rena Marie Jones, Janna Browning, Maria Breaux, and Amal Kouttab
It can be said that tragedy breeds not only great pain, but great creativity. In March 2007, 17-year-old Antwanisha Morgan was shot and killed by a bullet meant for the friend standing next to her. The entire Bayview Hunters Point community went into mourning. The members of her drama therapy group, aptly titled
"Too Much Drama 4 Yo Mama...An' Yo Daddy!", were shocked, devastated, and angered.
The all-female group,
"Too Much Drama 4 Yo Mama," had been meeting since September 2006. In January 2007, they were joined by several male participants, and the named was changed to
"Too Much Drama 4 Yo Mama...An' Yo Daddy!" After Antwanisha's death, the focus dramatically shifted, and in just two weeks the group rewrote the performance they'd been working on for three months. Instead, they created a stage piece processing the death of their friend. The resulting show, performed at the
Bayview Opera House, was dedicated to Antwanisha, and included skits of their memories of her, and monologues, raps, and dance performances expressing their grief.
Determined to create an additional work designed for the screen and inspired entirely by the real experiences faced by group members, "Too Much Drama" now presents its inaugural short,
We There. The title has a two-fold meaning: Not only is it a response to a party invite, but it's also a somber reminder: You may have heard and read about those living in a dangerous neighborhood "out there," but this is our day-to-day existence.
In
We There, three teenagers must choose their fate after tragedy strikes. Michelle is trying to get out and go to college, while Momo and Cornelius must decide whether to leave and discover their choices, or to stay and make the best of the community they love. A directorial collaboration between drama therapists Rena Marie Jones and Janna Browning, and San Francisco filmmakers Maria Breaux and Amal Kouttab, this story brings to light the three-dimensionality of those living "on the front line."
"Too Much Drama 4 Yo Mama...An' Yo Daddy!" consists of nine African-American teens, all from Bayview Hunters Point. The group met for three hours each week all summer with group leaders, drama therapists Rena Marie Jones and Janna Browning. Together they shared, processed, and cataloged stories from their lives through drama therapy. In the end, the stories were organized, small details were changed, characters were created, and a new, collective story was created for the film. After learning about the film project, local filmmaker Maria Breaux of
MBreauxsia Films chose to provide full financing, and working with Amal Kouttab of
AmalDesigns, helped to create the kind of quality film that could tell the kids' stories to the world.
This film is also dedicated to Antwanisha.
