When the curtain rises, a group of talented South Island high school actors often peer out at their wide-eyed parents, doting teachers and fellow classmates.
But inside a Colwood high school auditorium in mid-March, this was not the case. On the other side of the curtain were 12 highly trained RCMP crisis negotiators.
The performances at Royal Bay Secondary School are a rarity, but Mounties say they could help save lives.
In a partnership between Royal Bay’s drama program and Vancouver Island’s RCMP critical incident negotiators, the teenage actors play out intense scenes to help the crisis team adapt on the fly.
“Crisis negotiation is a perishable skill. We must take part in routine training,” said negotiation team coordinator Cpl. Jill Swann.
“The drama students at Royal Bay High acted out several intense scenarios for us and challenged the negotiators to think on their feet and adapt to the ever-changing situation.”
The drama students were prepped on what scenes should look and sound like, but were told to be spontaneous in an effort to push negotiators.
In the auditorium, the 12 specialized police officers sat with their backs turned to the action. For the negotiators, the exercise was an attempt to challenge their listening skills, limit what information they have and take the appropriate action to defuse the crises.
As the frontline members of the island’s emergency response team talked the actors down from a variety of life-like situations, the students themselves were given a window into drama rarely taught in schools.
“We are side-by-side, acting in these super realistic situations,” drama student Jackson Fraser said. “It’s important for us to learn about crisis so that it can be addressed for what it is.”
Following each performance, students and negotiators discuss the scene. The high schoolers are given a platform to provide constructive criticism, and help negotiators understand what commands actually struck a chord and calmed the situation.
The onstage collaboration has been taking place at Royal Bay Secondary School for three years. The 12 crisis negotiators come from RCMP detachments up and down Vancouver Island.
