We began with bin bags. Amorphous and unremarkable black plastic bags. But soon the girls had formed them into characters of their making. Sure, if anyone were to peep through the door they’d still see a bunch of people rushing around with rubbish, but in the room our imaginations created and encountered Tom the Tiger, Haley the Hunter, Amy the Angel, and more.
After exploring them in ‘puppet’ form, the girls quickly drew what they imagined their character to look like and where they came from. In the following week, the girls fleshed out their characters with short stories that incorporated some basic imagery we gave them as inspiration.
We talked about metaphor and narrative structure, and off they went through the woods on a hunt, to the park, to a birthday party, to wherever their characters might go. Building on those stories, the  actions and images we heard in the stories that stuck with us.
Soon enough, we’d started writing one big story together, combining everyone’s characters (with some new ones joining in the story for the first time that week). The girls ran around the room acting out scenes, making sound effects, tinkering with the details of the plot, and by the end, we had a rough draft.
The following week we refined the script, did a little acting, a little drawing, and our final week, we recorded the ‘radio play’ you can listen to here. Everything you hear came from these girls’ imaginations. It’s short, and it’s very sweet. Enjoy.

CEN8Kids Radio Drama

A podcast about Cultural Appropriation by Angel, created during the CEN8Teens summer radio workshop. 

With help from Kenya Scarlett and Nora Josefine Hoel.

CEN8Radio