Before heading off to Spelman College in Atlanta last fall to begin her freshman year, Mallory Childs spent a lot of time saying goodbye to friends she met over the years participating in Teen HYPE.
That didn’t last long.
As soon as Childs caught wind of the Detroit-based student organization’s theme for its annual stage production — written, produced and acted out by teens — she contacted the organization’s CEO, Ambra Reddick, and asked how could she help. Soon enough, Childs was reunited with Teen HYPE and offering guidance.
“She just got immersed in the process — she was definitely a major point of reference, in terms of writing,” Reddick says.
Childs told Model D last year some of her experiences navigating suburban Detroit schools as a young Black woman, some of which plays into this year’s play titled “Two Detroits,” a two-act, 90-minute play featuring dance, spoken word and, of course, a compelling story told through the point-of-view of Metro Detroit adolescents. Gentrification is the hot topic in Detroit for all ages, but “Two Detroits” brings the experience of young people trying to find a place in the city when they themselves are feeling pushed out.
“You will see the story of two young people from Detroit navigating adolescence — two very different lives,” Reddick says. “There’s a young person that has the resources that they need, and one that doesn’t. There are many points throughout the play where we are reminded that young poeple are impacted by adult decisions.
When Detroiters talk gentrification, there’s the usual conjured-up image of senior citizens being pushed out of an apartment complex in favor of luxury renters for younger generations, or people of color pushed out of their neighborhoods as they become more trendy — and unaffordable. In this case, Detroit teens will express on stage how they’re feeling pushed out of spaces in town once welcome to them.
“When i was their age, i could go Hart Plaza, I could go to the Renaissance Center,” Reddick says. That’s true for most generations of Detroit teenagers older than Gen Alpha. Proms and other rites of passage were held at the RenCen that also had all-age-friendly shops and a movie theater for not-so-special ocassions. And there weren’t any curfews to watch the fireworks every year outside in Hart Plaza, or anywhere outdoors in Detroit.
“We say the riverfront is for everybody, but let’s keep it real — they don’t want 50 teenagers hanging out down there,” Reddick says. “There’s no third spaces for [Detroit youth] anymore. There is no Northland [Mall] anymore. Even Belle Isle has changed.”
The changes Reddick are referring to, of course, refer to Northland Mall being demolished as malls nationwide slowly die out, and increased patrolling of Belle Isle since it became a Michigan state park after taking over ownership from the City of Detroit. Those feelings of not being welcome are what teens in the play — some of which are performing on stage for the first time — hope to convey.
"I’m always impressed by young people’s thinking,” Reddick says. “They have a sense of that older people lose…and their solutions are often much simpler. We make things much more complicated,” she laughs.
“They inspire me, they give me hope in such complicated and difficult times.”
Teen HYPE has invited all of Detroit’s mayoral candidates to attend the shows with the hope that their voice will be heard as residents head into a mayoral election this fall.
“I hope they will hear the call to actions,” Reddick says. “And they will hear how [teens] relate with inequities that exist in our city.”
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