Our partners in health: Nou Se Zanmi, a living newspaper

When the NYC-based theater group Living Newspaper opened Nou Se Zanmi Benefit, Haitian Creole for “We Are Friends,” recently at Joe’s Pub in lower Manhattan, they did it by singing a Haitian song of mourning, Fèy-o:

“The piece deals with the devastation of the earthquake, but in the beginning and in the end, we returned to the powerful Haitian song, ‘Fèy-o,’ which PIH doctor Evan Lyon first taught us,” says Living Newspaper’s director, Laura Savia.

“We teamed up with an amazing group of drummers trained by Haitian Master Drummer Frisner Augustin, of the New York based La Troupe Makandal,” says Savia. “Our idea is to celebrate the strength and beauty of Haiti culturally and spiritually through dance, drumming, and music, rather than present a solemn, mournful benefit show on the whole.” 

Nou Se Zanmi.

The group–comprised of 3 writers and 8 actors–dramatize current news stories through both live performance and digital webisodes.

“[The idea] is based on the Living Newspaper Unit of the Federal Theatre Project in the late 1930s, which was a political theater group that employed many influential artists and used cutting edge technology to deliver their work to a wide multi-city audience,” says Savia.

“It seemed like a natural fit to bring in a group like ours that does only topical theater for a benefit that is about a topic that has been so prevalent in the news...Hopefully we rallied some troops, some awareness, and some long term commitments of support.”

Both The Living Newspaper and Joe’s Pub have a long history of supporting Partners In Health’s work in Haiti. “We have the opportunity through this performance not only to raise awareness about Haiti and about PIH, but also to offer lasting images of hope and strength—ones not always shown on the news,” says Savia. “If every theater company participating—and every individual attending—could leave as an ambassador for Haiti and for PIH, the ripple of awareness in the arts community here would be extroardinary.”   

The shows producers are planning to air footage of the benefit online as a way of encourage people to continue donating to Partners In Health’s STAND WITH HAITI campaign.

Nou Se Zanmi brings together some of the most exciting young theater companies and artists in New York City, creating a tapestry of new songs and scenes, all responding to recent events in Haiti.

The benefit featured the work of various groups, including: At Play Productions, The Coterie & Matt Gould, EST/Young Blood, Hoi Polloi, The Living Newspaper, Loki, The Movement Theatre Company, New Georges, New York Neo-Classical Ensemble, and The Subjective Theatre Company.

All proceeds from the evening benefited Partners In Health.

Listen to a choral version of Fèy-o as sung by a choir at St Peter’s College Chapel, Oxford.