Photo submitted zAmya performances include both housed and homeless actors and involve personal stories from some of those actors. Pictured from left to right: in front: Corey Walton; middle row: Antonio Duke, Caroline Mannheimer and Laura Ross; back row: Marvin Howard, Charles Hilton,Tahiti Robinson and Donald “Lurch” Yundt

NEW ULM — A play featuring true stories about homelessness is set to entertain and enlighten tonight.

Starting at 4 p.m. at the New Ulm High School auditorium, Minneapolis-based theater troupe zAmya will be putting on a free show followed by a free meet, greet and eat at the Untied Church of Christ (301 S. Minnesota St.).

“We are really just trying to start a discussion about homelessness and that it does exist in greater Minnesota and that is kind of one of the intentions of bringing it here,” organizer Kate Denney said.

zAmya, which means “aiming for peace” in sanskrit, is a theater troupe of housed and homeless people, Denney said.

It uses stories of homeless actors inside of a theatrical production to open up discussions of homelessness in its audiences.

“It will be like a play performance but within the play there are different snippets of personal stories of the actors,” Denney said.

Denney, a local who is studying at the University of Minnesota, discovered zAmya while participating in a program called HECUA (Higher Education Consortium for Urban Affairs).

HECUA is a one semester off-campus study program to give students experience with real-world social justice issues.

Denney happened to be assigned to the project that showed her a performance of zAmya.

“I would never think that I would be homeless, I would never think that my mom would be homeless but then when you hear the stories of these people they are so real, and they were in situations just like I am now and it can just take one life event,” Denney said.

zAmya is part of St. Stephen’s Human Services which is dedicated to eradicating homelessness, according to its website.

St. Stephen’s started as St. Stephen’s Church. In the 1960’s the church began offering programs to help the poor secure housing.

By the 1980s it opened a shelter that was originally intended to be temporary. In 2002 St. Stephen’s separated from the church and became an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit, according to their website.

Now the program uses case workers, community engagement and its shelter to combat homelessness.

More information can be found at ststephensmpls.org.

“It was really nice to find something that I can connect my urban and not-so-urban communities with because sometimes it feels like I am jumping back and forth,” Denney said.

ccummiskey@nujournal.com