Co-founder of the Childhoodlost Foundation, Kaliek Hayes, and the cast of the Chronicles stage play. (Photo courtesy of the Childhoodlost Foundation.)

The Childhoodlost Theatre Group (CTG) came into town and took center stage at Martin Luther King Jr. High School on Thursday, December 12, for two showings of its Chronicles stage play. The play notably delivers a story that depicts and combats the destruction that gun violence can do to the youth.

“Everything we do on stage is purpose-driven. We show everything: young people getting shot, young people who won’t make it, young people going to jail,” said co-founder of the Childhoodlost Foundation, Kaliek Hayes. “These are all the things that represent what we see when it comes to the violence in our city.”

“We don’t sensationalize it… but it’s a real message, with the hopes that when young people see it and feel it, they’ll make better decisions,” Hayes added.

Thursday’s shows marked the first time they have performed at a public school other than a higher education institution. The first show was at 10:00 a.m. for the student body, and the second was at 6:00 p.m., free for the community. 

Men Who Care Germantown (MWCG) organized and hosted the evening event, which featured a fashion show by Urban Fashion Against Gun Violence and a toy giveaway for children. MWCG also accepted donations for the event.

According to Hayes, this was also the fifth and sixth showing of the play, as the Chronicles stage play has reeled in over 2,000 of the city’s youth to view the production. Previous showings have been at Philadelphia venues such as the Suzanne Roberts Theatre on South Broad Street and the Drake Theatre on South Hicks Street.

MWGC members previously attended a showing of the play at Gratz College in Elkins Park in October, which led them to reach out, connect with Childhoodlost, and organize a local event in Germantown.

“Because of the heightened awareness around gun violence in the city, we’ve been at a continuum of trying to do this one and get it in front of as many young people as possible,” Hayes said. “It’s thousands of kids that we believe need to see this, so we’re just scratching the surface.”

The Chronicles’s overall production crew and cast consists of about 20 youth members, with 14 being actors and the others being part of the production design and management.

The Childhoodlost Foundation was founded in 2012 by South Philadelphia natives Hayes and his brother Stephen Gardner. After spending a period of his life incarcerated, he desired to start a mentorship program for young people.

“At 13, I experienced what I equated to my childhood being lost; I watched one of my best friends get killed,” Hayes said. “I ended up spiraling out of control; I was federally incarcerated by the time I was 18. My vow to my brother was that when I get home, we’re going to do whatever we can so other young people, especially boys of color, don’t make the mistakes I made.”

The foundation was established with a chess club and soon added a theatre element after connecting with Philadelphia playwright Bilal Islam. This addition gave them a chance to translate the messages they were already emphasizing into the form of stage plays.

“[My brother and I] create all the storylines that we know we want to talk about, and [Islam] writes it out for us, and he’s been our writer since day one,” Hayes said. “He still writes and directs all of our productions.”

For the last 11 years, they have created 17 original productions, and 12 of them have hit large theatre venues across the city and at other locations nationwide, such as Howard University, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and even at theatres in Houston, Texas.

Not only is their mission to educate and impact their viewers through stories, but they also focus on welcoming and training the city’s youth to be a part of big productions that represent similar stories of what they’re going through.

“We find young people in the community who have never seen anything like this, and then we get them engrossed and teach them how to be theatre actors, “Hayes said. “For example, we’re now working with Men Who Care Germantown, and they’ve already said that they have three young people who are interested.”

The many different young thespians that have been a part of their theatre group throughout the past decade have contributed to Childhoodlost’s ability to present plays with different topics that the youth can relate to. 

Story topics have ranged from teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases to mass incarceration, and soon, they will announce their next production for the spring that will center around children growing up in group homes.

“If we can get enough young people in front of these [plays], then we can change lives,” Hayes said. “Hopefully, they get to see these things happen before it happens to them and can make better decisions based on what they saw.”

For more information on the work of the Childhoodlost Foundation and ways to get involved, visit them on social media.