Remembering Danny O'Brian

Vancouver, April 4, 2005

Death in a Dumpster, a passion play for the homeless, will open at 8:00 p.m. on May 6th and 7th, in the sanctuary of St John's United Church, 1401 Comox Street, at Broughton, in the West End of Vancouver. Written by Sheila Baxter and directed by Ian A. Wallace, the play is based on a true event.

"Homeless man found dead in Burnaby dump. Apparently fell asleep in a dumpster, picked up and crushed with the garbage.";

This item, three lines in the newspaper, prompted Sheila Baxter, author of four books on homelessness and poverty, to write a new play, "Death in a Dumpster";. The play gives an identity and a spirit to anonymous street victims; through it, we participate in a memorial which celebrates Danny's young life and that of so many others who experience similar fates in the midst of our urban environment. "Death in a Dumpster"; invites us to look beyond the stigma and separation of "us and them"; and embrace the entire "human family";.

In the play we meet a street family... who loves, laughs, fights, parties, then mourns their friend Danny, who dies accidentally and tragically as so many homeless people do. This workshop presentation of the West End Public Theatre, St John's United Church and The Friends for Life Mask Group, was brought to life by a team of passionate, dedicated volunteers.