Our Side Of The River: A Reflection Of The Experiences Of Growing Up In Benton Harbor

By Nicholas Gunn

Our Side Of The River had its last showing of its debut week at Lake Michigan Colleges Hansen Center on Sunday, November 21st. The cast had a great production under the direction of its director Paul Mow and its playwright Terry Guest. Our Side Of The River showed the rich history of Benton Harbor, the amazing culture and Benton Harbor's resilience against its adversity.?

Paul Mow the director said “I think it went great, I think the cast worked really hard every single night and they felt support from there community, that's all we ever wanted was to elevate the voices of the initial authors and then to their peers and other students that may or may not have done some of the writing.”

The play is based on the book Our Side Of The River, that was written by students of Benton Harbor Area Schools in 2020 during the quarantine of Covid-19. The book Our Side Of the River is a written reflection of the experiences of growing up in Benton Harbor. The book also features a foreword by Alex Kotlowitz who is the author of The Other Side Of The River, that shows a story about the two towns (Benton Harbor & St. Joseph) closeness in location and its divide in race and equality.

Summer School Administrator Michele Vogt-Schuller also played a role in the writing of the book with facilitating and assisting students with editing. Ms. Michele seemed excited to see what she helped with on paper come to life, she said “I see it as being iterative and that you can keep adding to the play as it goes along with new work or even having other versions of it.

Members of the cast were also excited about the play and the message they thought it would bring to the audience. Cast member Gaylon Chandler said “The power behind the play was to teach people on the other side of the river (St. Joseph) that Benton Harbor is not always a crime city, there is always joy in the city of Benton Harbor. Cast member Ardale Clark said “I think the power behind the play was actually us as a community putting it out there that it is all different sides of our community. Sometimes we all can get overshadowed by the negative images of our community but it's the positive things that we are doing. Getting together, having cookouts, coming together as family, wearing our hair the way we want to, long hair don't care, short hair don't care. So it's just more of us being ourselves and stepping out on faith and saying; hey this is us as Benton Harbor and except us as we are. Because if you don't make a seat for us at the table we'll find our own table to make a seat at and have a good time.”

The play demonstrated a few noticeable events throughout Benton Harbor's history. The 1966 riots were depicted in a scene, The screen read “on August 29,1966, a disturbance involving some 300 black youths outside Sheeley’s Roller Rink on 543 Highland Avenue in Benton Harbor became a three-day riot. Reports Cited the immediate cause as disrespectful policing, inadequate housing, limited employment, and lack of recreational spaces. Although Gov. George Romney alerted the National Guard, they were never sent to the scene.”?

Lastly the cast came out and gave a bow as they received a standing ovation and a thunder of claps from the audience. Carrie Nelson watched the play and looked to have enjoyed it, she said “It's amazing to see, I have previous students in there, Co workers in there, Co workers children in there and it's just great to see everybody come together to speak about something so powerful and enlightening. They did a great job!”?