As part of her community connector work with Great Plains Theatre Commons, Omaha playwright Ellen Struve leads story sharing workshops with women at MICAH House shelter in Council Bluffs. Residents tell her how scary it is losing everything and having to navigate unfamiliar social service systems to try and find safe refuge and a new start.
When Anastasis Theatre Co. artistic director Haley Haas suggested Struve create a story about their experiences, the writer thought of “Hansel and Gretel.” Like the siblings of that classic fairy tale brave dark, dangerous woods, unhoused and food insecure women in the metro report feeling lost in a harsh world where threats loom large.
Struve’s resulting adaptation, “Ways to Win the Woods,” is a new play with music that uses metaphors inspired by that folk tale to shed light on the challenges of homelessness in America. It will make its world premiere with free performances at Hoff Family Arts & Culture Center in Council Bluffs on Feb. 12-13 at 7 p.m. and at Yates Illuminates in Omaha on Feb. 15 at 2 p.m.
“I thought I would like to do something unusual,” said Struve (“Recommended Reading for Girls,” “The Dairy Maid-Right,” “EPIC”), who’s formed deep bonds with the shelter and its residents. “It’s a place and a population that I care deeply about.”…