Chicka-Chang: Theatre and Film in Humjibre

By Laconia Koerner and Logan Krochalis

In February and March playwright Laconia Koerner taught drama classes to junior high school Form 1 and Form 2 students (roughly ages 12-16). Each form met for two hours once a week. During the first weeks students learned several trust exercises and theatre games designed to encourage them to interact using their bodies and voices in a structured yet spontaneous and playful way. Class favorites were Zip Zap Zop, the Circle Dance, and what came to be called “Chicka-Chang,” a game where students rapidly pass a sound and movements and/or gestures to each other in a circle. By March it was not uncommon for Laconia to hear her students cry “chicka-chang!” from the street as she walked to market.

Before leaving the U.S. for Humjibre, Laconia adapted a selection of fables written by Arnold Lobel for the stage. The students worked with three of the fables before it was decided that,“The Mouse at the Seashore” would be most appropriate to focus on for a performance, as it was reminiscent of the students’ recent trip to the beach in Accra. The students quickly memorized a simplified text of the play, a process that was conducted during class time where emphasis was put on correct English pronunciation and the meanings of several unfamiliar words. On Sunday, March 28, six groups performed versions of “The Mouse at the Seashore” for their families and friends, as well as GHEI staff at the Humjibre Community Center. A celebration followed complete with rounds of the Circle Dance and the infamous “Chicka-Chang.”

In addition to her work with the Form 1 and 2 students, Laconia wrote and directed a half-hour-long narrative film called United Against Malaria. The film stars, and is to be used by, the current Community Health Workers (CHW) of Humjibre as a teaching tool about the symptoms, treatment, and prevention of malaria. Originally written in English, the CHW’s worked tirelessly (in tandem with bed net distribution) to translate the film into Twi, as it is the most widely understood local language and will allow the film to be used in villages outside of Humjibre.
    
“It's powerful to see your everyday type life in the context of a staged performance. There gives a meaning to your life. And if other people see it becomes a common experience. Its hard for me to articulate the benefit of it, but even the simplest thing….something personal becomes universal when you and your peers act it out on stage.” - Laconia Koerner

“The kids have so much work to do, labor, studying, and so on. This is a playful outlet that is also challenging them to use what they are supposed to be learning. Theatre gives kids a voice, not that to answer a teacher or give a correct response; it literally gives them a voice. Kids don’t know who they are yet, and performing allows kids, and adults, to play with who they are.” - Laconia Koerner

“The kids in Humjibre grow up by the age of five, they are so mature. I don’t know if they ever get to experience the emotional psychic experience of children elsewhere. Theatre is spontaneous and structured. Its playful. With rules. Nothing here is all work or all play.” - Laconia Koerner