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Saturday, February 22, 199?The stars fromDegrassiHighconfront teens withtough questions in DegmssiThlks......8mn' 0.Vvlt;•lt;w.‘MCAN WE talk?OK, but be forewarned — this isn't in reference to a pop-culture, Joan-Riversian dishing of insulting innuendo, rude, racy rumors and scandalous scuttlebutt.What we’re talking about here — if we are, in fact, prepared to talk — is an honest, of-ten-blunt, no-nonsense discussion of hard issues and real life.Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. Abuse. Depression. These are topics that have been addressed in dramatic form by CBC-TV’s celebrated Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High, and they’re the focus of a new six-part documentary series, Degrassi Talks, which premieres Monday at 8:30 p.m. on the CBC.EmotionalThe new show takes members of the Degrassi cast out of the make-believe safety of the soundstage and drops them into cities and towns all over this country to confront young Canadians with tough questions about the most pressing concerns facing teens in the ’90s.It’s a remarkably open and emotional series that will inform, inspire and perhaps even enrage viewers with its honest exploration of the issues.“It was a very different experience because we were behind the camera this time instead of in front of it,” said actress Stacy Mistysyn (Caitlin in Degrassi High), host of the sixth episode, which deals with sexuality. She shares hosting duties in Degrassi Talks with Amanda Stepto (Spike), Neil Hope (Wheels), Rebecca Haines (Kathleen), Pat Mastroianni (Joey) and Siiuck Saysanasy (YickYu),“We were being ourselves instead of our characters. I think it was a good change—aJi of us really enjoyed it. And speaking for myself, I had a lot of fun going to all the different places, getting people on camera and sort of putting them on the spot.”The first episode, which deals with sex, pregnancy, teen parenthood, abortion and sexually transmitted diseases, sets the tone for the series.The program combines a series of quick-hit, on-the-street interviews, clips from the earlier Degrassi series and bits of statistical information with longer profiles of young1.gg nipeg on Wednesday, including a stop at Transcona Collegiate to talk about the show with students.2w Degrassi seriesnews of kids on drugs, alcohol and sexBrad Oswaldpeople whose lives have been deeply affected by the issues in question.In the premiere episode, these profiles include a regretful teenage mother (“I’ve had sex once, and that was with the baby’s father,” she says), a 22-year-old woman who chose to have an abortion when she was a teen, a girl who gave her baby up for adoption, a young man carrying the HIV virus and a 19-year-old father weighing the consequences of his decision to marry his girlfriend after learning she was pregnant.“Those were very emotional stories, because of the kinds of things they were talking about — abuse, pregnancy, abortion and so on, said Mistysyn. “We always had to distance ourselves and take a neutral viewpoint before we went into the interviews to make sure we could stay on track and focused.”In the same way that few of the Degrassi kids had any acting experience before being cast in the dramatic series, most of them had little knowledge of behind-the-camera techniques before embarking on their coast-to-coast quest for opinions and information.“When we started the Degrassi series, they put us through a series of acting workshops. With Degrassi Talks, they basically had to dothe same thing again but for the technical aspects,” said Mastroianni. “They had the cameraman from the series come in and teach how to use the camera, how to set up proper shots and how to go out there and do the street interviews.There’s an enormous amount of information crammed into each episode of Degrassi Talks. After watching, viewers are sure to be left feeling they've seen more than just 30minutes of television.Mistysyn said the show’s producers tried to match each program with a host whose Degrassi High character had been affected by that show’s issue. For example, Stepto introduces the episode about sex, and her character, Spike, became a teenage mother in the series.jT.1 ACH ONE of us hosts a different|i . topic, and they tried to keep the top-XJ ics character-related,” said Mistysyn. “I dealt with sexuality, and in one of the episodes (of Degrassi High), my character questioned her own sexuality. They also tried to keep it personal — my sister is gay, and that’s one of the interviews that takes place in the sexuality episode.In Degrassi High, Wheels lost his parents in a drunk-driving accident. In real life, actor Hope — who hosts the show about alcohol — is the child of alcoholic parents.Haines’s character was battered by an abusive boyfriend. In real life, Haines —■ who hosts the program that focuses on abuse — is a victim of date rape. Hope and Haines are scheduled to make a promotional trip to Win-It’s these kinds of crossovers that allow the young actors, despite their inexperience as interviewers, to relate to their subjects. Still, said Mastroianni, some of the testimonial interviews were very difficult to conduct.“You can never realty prepare for some of them,” he said. Stefan Brogren, who played Snake in the series, went out and interviewed someone who had found his brother dead after he committed suicide. Stefan’s character in the show found another character, Claude, in the school washroom after a suicide, but how could Stefan really understand what it must have been like for someone to find his own brother dead? Stefan just had to act it. He didn’t have to live it.”Real educationMistysyn said working on Degrassi Talks proved to be a real education for the cast and crew, in terms of increasing their own knowledge of the issues and finding out more about the different attitudes that exist across the country.“What was really interesting was asking the same questions in different areas and seeing how the answers varied from region to region, she said. “There was almost an equal mix of knowledge and ignorance, because we covered such a wide range of topics, but if anything I would say there’s a little more ignorance out there than knowledge, i“Maybe it’s because the ignorance was so pronounced and it tends to stick in my mind more because it’s so dangerous today to be that way. A lot of people knew what STDs are and the basic facts about protecting themselves, but there are still a lot of myths and misinformation going around and there are still people who just say, ‘What diseases?’ Hopefully, those people will gain some awareness from these episodes.If Degrassi Talks is well received by the public—and considering the subject matter and the track record of previous Degrassi efforts, it should be—it will probably pave the way for another cross-country jaunt to address a new slate of issues.
Newspaper Details
Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Manitoba, CA
Sat, Feb 22, 1992
Page 25
Full Page
Clipped by
Aarron L.
USA 19 Apr 2021
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