Solo: A Boy's Journey

Solo: A Boy's Journey is an exploration. All of us - boys, girls, men and women - are capable of violence, physical and psychological. How can we not feel it when our minds and bodies have felt the brutal reality of what is happening on the street, in school, Afghanistan or between the lines of the newspaper. Solo explores the nature of violence we live with in order to bring it out in the conscious world rather than bury it.  When we truly understand how it affects us deeply we may be able to make better choices.

Why a Rite of Passage?

Many of our boys live in isolation, particularly in regards to their feelings. Girls are more likely to share the difficult feelings that cause them to suffer.  Males are told not to share what's going on because it looks too much like a female. Where do we go to learn about ourselves, our inner world? TV, movies, books? Who are the teachers and elders who help us access parts of ourselves that never have a chance to show themselves? 
A rite of passage can be an amazing turning point in our lives. The play is an attempt to feel out what needs to be claimed. When we take ourselves away from our "normal, everyday life"  in our "wilderness" we create a place inside of us where something can happen.  There is possibility to re-invent who we are and where we're going. It's a shake up and it's hopeful.

Solo: A Boy's Journey was created by Jerry Brodey and Robert Morgan and is performed by Jerry Brodey.

It’s directed by Robert Morgan,  the founding artistic director of the Children’s Peace Theatre and the founding artistic co-director of Roseneath Theatre, both based in Toronto, Canada. With more than twenty plays under his belt, he has won several Chalmers Awards for outstanding play writing and four Dora Mavor Moore awards for best production.  

For the last twenty 25 years Jerry Brodey has been committed to cultural enhancement of school-aged children as an educator, writer, performer and workshop leader. Along with his wife Kim Brodey, they have a range of accomplishments that includes seven recordings for young people.

Jerry’s songs have been recorded and played around the world.  Sobonana Kusasa (Zulu for "We Will Meet Tomorrow"), Let's Help This Planet, Walking to Freedom (dedicated to Nelson Mandela) have been recorded by numerous American artists and have been used in social studies curriculum packages in Canada and the U.S.A.  Kim and Jerry Brodey’s 1983 recording Simple Magic received an American Library Notable Recording Award. Their video  Hats On/ Hats Off, written by Kim and Jerry Brodey, produced by Whitman/Golden, won an Action For Children's Television Award for Responsible Programming in 1983. Their recordings Family Pie and Like a Ripple on the Water have also been nominated for Juno awards in 1986 and 1996. 

Jerry is also a co-founder, and has been an Executive Co-Director and senior trainer with Community Builders Youth Leadership, a  non-profit charitable organization that develops youth leadership in the areas of non-violence and equity. They currently run their programs in Sudbury, Espanola, Brantford, Caledonia and Jane Finch communities. Community Builders Youth Leadership have been the recipients of the 2003 Canadian Race Relations Foundation Award of Distinction.

Jerry, along with his wife Kim Brodey, have created five touring stage productions (three of them directed by
Chalmers Award winning Playwright Robert Morgan), two video/films, numerous guest recordings, a wide range of
supplementary teaching materials and many appearances on television and radio across the country

 www.kimandjerrybrodey.com 

Solo: A Boy's Journey is his first play. When time permits, Jerry currently performs with his wife Kim, Let’s Help This Planet, Can you Hear My Voice,
Like a Ripple on the Water, Ideas that Sing  through

Prologue to the Performing Arts  www.prologue.org  and Mariposa In The Schools www.mits.on.ca