Bed-Stuy Teens Give Emotional Performance in Play, 'I See You'

On Tuesday, April 17, eight Bed-Stuy teens and three police officers of the will make their stage acting debut in the play, “I See You.”

For both the teens and the officers, this play may be one of the most important roles of their lives. Why? Because these teens, with the help of the officers in the cast, will tell their stories and wear their hearts on their sleeves, hopefully changing the way the community sees them and, most importantly, change the way other teens in the community see themselves.

The teens are members of the , an after-school program that provides the young members of the neighborhood mentorship and community service work, while also teaching them how stay in compliance with the law. This will be the first play by this group of Bed-Stuy Explorers.

“It's about a small group of kids from Bedford-Stuyvesant who are in a community program; they are considered the ‘Last of the Mohicans in this program,’” said the play’s writer Tiffany Hayden-Williamson. (Sound familiar?)

Like so many of Bed-Stuy’s teens today, the play’s characters don’t really believe they will amount to anything, Hayden-Williamson explained. Still, they struggle to get the program’s coordinators to see them for who they really are, even as the program is falling due to internal strife amongst the adults.

“And basically, the kids end up saving the day,” she said. “These kids are superheroes; they really are. They don’t have any special powers, but in their innocence and in their strength, they become our heroes.”

Long Island based playwright Hayden-Williamson has written more than 20 plays and has published five. She was brought on board to work with the Explorers by her brother-in-law Officer Williamson, who is an advisor for the Program. He was looking for a way for the kids to fundraise while also engage the community in something meaningful and valuable. Officer Williamson, knowing the impact his sister-in-law has made on her audiences with her past plays, asked her to help them out.

Hayden-Williamson said she came up with the idea for the story from paying close attention to the conversations between teens, both inside and outside of her home.

“I’m a mommy of three, and mommies ear hustle very well, whether it’s the grocery store, the museum or the subway,” she said. “So these composite characters are created from just listening to what the kids were saying. And what I hear from the kids from just walking down the street is that they want to be heard. They want people to love them. They want people to know them. They want people to know that they exist, and that there’s nothing wrong with them.

“What the play did was teach them how to be on time for something. It taught them what it means to be dedicated, and it created a safe haven for them to tell their personal stories openly."

“I See You” is one hour and 20 minutes and will have a two-week run April 17-19 and April 24-26 at the Crispus Attucks School, 180 Chauncey Street (between Malcolm X Boulevard and Patchen Avenue), 7:00pm. Tickets are $12, and can be purchased at the venue or online at www.thwstories.com.

“Whenever I write, it’s never about me, it’s about the kids. Because even after you’ve written a play, it changes to become the characters’ in it; that’s when it comes alive,” said Hayden-Williamson. “I’m just a conduit for the kids to tell their own stories. And now more than ever, they really need the community to hear them, see them.

“Brooklyn, this one is for you!”

[VIDEO: See kids give an impromptu performance of scene-one for Bed-Stuy Patch, at the 81st Police Pct. Station]