Fireside Theatre to raise funds for Syrian refugees

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Fireside Theatre will perform Kaspar Hauser: The Riddle of Refuge, July 21-24, around campfires in Strathmore, Rosebud and Drumheller.
Riddle of Refuge, organized by the Rosebud for Syria committee, will raise funds to support Syrian refugees in Strathmore and overseas.
It tells the story of Kaspar Hauser, a young boy who mysteriously appeared in the town square of Nuremberg, Germany in 1828. Kaspar couldn’t speak much, he had almost nothing with him and no one knew where he’d come from. The town received him with varying degrees of acceptance, curiosity and hostility.
Heather Pattengale Zacharias, a member of Rosebud for Syria, is working with her husband Paul Zacharias, Andrew Cooper, Maki Van Dyke and Kelsey Krogman, to create and perform the show. Pattengale sees many parallels between this 200-year-old story and what’s happening with refugees in 2016.
“Circumstances in history change, but people’s reactions to those circumstances often remain the same,” she said. “There are people who are in need, but they’re strangers. And everyone has a different reaction to how [to] help this stranger.”
As the play focuses on those parallel themes, Pattengale hopes Kaspar’s story will provoke thought and discussion.
“Money will be a short-term solution,” she said. “But unless we become thoughtful people, as history has shown, problems will just keep coming back. They’re cyclical. And so the best way to tackle any of these world problems is really through thoughtfulness and changing our hearts as a people.”
She believes this play can do that.
“One of the things I love about theatre is that it helps people to be fascinated by people,” she said. “The more fascinated we become with other people, not in a celebrity kind of fascination and idolizing people, but in actual fascination with other people, when we realize how special other people are, and how crazy we all are, I think we become more empathetic.
“I hope it gives people room to reflect on all sides of this current debate, and maybe to have empathy not only for those who are strangers but for those people who we disagree with,” Pattengale continues. “We can’t always hope to change each other’s minds but we can hope to hear each other out and to love each other even if we don’t agree.
“What it comes down to in its most simplistic form is, what do we do when there are people that we struggle to love?”
Riddle for Refuge performances begin at 10 p.m. and run around 45 minutes. It will be performed July 21 in the Badlands Passion Play Forum Theatre in Drumheller. Guests should meet at the ticket booth.
July 23, it will be performed in Strathmore behind Hope Covenant Church. Guests should meet at the church entrance.
On July 24, it will be shown behind Rosebud Church, and guests should meet at the church entrance. Guests should bring blankets or lawn chairs.
Tickets may be reserved at kasparhausertheatre@gmail.com or 403- 801- 5983. Tickets are $10 and additional donations are welcome. All funds will go to the Rosebud for Syria committee, which has nearly reached its goal of $10,000 to help support the second Syrian family in Strathmore.
Any funds exceeding the goal will be directed to agencies such as MCC and MedAir, to provide supports directly to refugees still in Syria.
“It is an entertaining show, even though it does deal with some serious subject matter,” Pattengale said. “There’s still a lot of delight and light heartedness in much of it as well, especially in the music that Paul [Zacharias] is writing. I hope that people can come prepared just to experience something unique and I hope that they’d enjoy it.”