Audio
Everybody is my People
Wave Trauma Center, Belfast Northern Ireland
In 2014, I was privileged to work with seven men who had survive significant trauma from the years of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The men shared their personal stories of what they had witnessed and endured, and how the echos of their memories and injuries have haunted them for decades. Following individual sessions with each of them, I crafted their scripts from their own words. Padraig and Jane Coyle recorded these audio stories, and then mixed and edited them with music. These have become a lasting recording of how trauma can impact individual souls.
Produced by the Playhouse and Wave Trauma Center
Scripted by Teya Sepinuck
Produced and Recorded by Padraig Coyle and Jane Coyle.
Funded by the Henry Smith Charity Trust
“Everyone is my people. Even the so-called perpetrators, the unfortunates, and the ones who stood by and did nothing. I stand for everyone. Everyone is my people.”
Brian
“There is a war in my bedroom at night. It happens as soon as my dreams start.”
Eugene
“I could look back at all I’ve been through and say ‘Why me?’ or I could say, ‘Why not me? Why should I have come out of the extreme years of the Troubles unscathed?’ “
David
“I’ve had just one goal in my life – to find out the truth about what happened to Terry. He was my brother and I had to find justice for him.”
Michael
“You always feel distanced from everyone. It’s like life has stopped for you but everyone else around you is moving and busy. The past is catching up on you.”
William
“I just want to forget about the past. For one hour. Even for just one minute. I just want to forget.”
Henry
“I’ve been carrying dark light for the past thirty-five years.”
Mantua – from the Bottom to the Top
Audio stories from residents of Mantua and Philadelphia police who serve the people of Mantua. (Philadelphia)
Produced by Mt. Vernon Manor CDC.
Collaborators: Teya Sepinuck of Theater of Witness, Mt. Vernon Manor CDC, Donna Griffin, and Philadelphia Police Chief Inspector Altovise Love-Craighead
Originally created to be a Theater of Witness production, with community residents and police, during the pandemic, the project pivoted. We had already laid the foundation of deep listening, connecting and supporting each other as participants told their stories of trauma, gunshot violence, poverty, loss, and fear as well as stories of resilience, relationships, spirit, safety and transformation. These are their stories recorded by each of them.
“I like to think that when we straighten our backs up, no one can keep us down.”
“I am a Black man, a police officer and a peacemaker.”
“Home is where your heart is. But what if you keep losing your heart?”
“I live with the fact that every day that I go in to work, it might be my last.”
“My mom came out and said, ‘Baby, they killed your baby.'”
“I come from a long line of African Women enslaved in America.”
“I want to say to the people in Mantua ‘It’s a pleasure protecting you. It’s an honor. I won’t let you down.'”
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