MANHATTAN — One theme keeps emerging in the stories two young actors have been gathering about the now-closed St. Vincent's Hospital.
"People tell us about these sacred experiences at the hospital — feeling the awe of life and death," said Michael Wilson, co-founder of the St. Vincent's Theater Project. "We hear a lot of, 'Oh my gosh, this place was so important."
At storytelling circles Wilson and his partner, Liz Parker, launched last month, one woman remembered sneaking out of her hospital bed at night after a major surgery and going to the chapel in her gown. Others remembered how people whose loved ones went missing on 9/11 posted signs on the side of the building.
The St. Vincent's Theater Project began when Parker, a West Village resident, walked past the closed hospital and decided there needed to be an artistic response to it. She enlisted Wilson, who was her classmate in CUNY's master's program in Applied Theatre, which teaches students to use theater to address social issues.
Parker and Wilson, who are both actors and educators in their late 20s, started going to community board meetings to gauge public opinion about the hospital's closure. They noticed people had more to say than there was time to say it.
"At these meetings, there's a two-minute cap on how long people can talk. People want to explain why the hospital was important in their lives. We realized we could give space for dialogue on how to move forward on health care in the Village," Parker said.
Parker and Wilson held their first story circle on July 28, and seven people — a combination of former patients at the hospital, lifelong neighborhood residents and newcomers — attended, Wilson said. The next night two women who had loved the hospital came.
The group is also conducting "story drives" on Sixth Avenue, in which they ask passersby to write a memory of the hospital and a hope for the future on blood drop-shaped pieces of paper and deposit them into an IV bag. They have collected about two-dozen stories this way so far.
The story circles and story drives, which the pair will lead through at least mid-August, are steps toward the creation of a piece of community theater, Wilson said. While the details of that are still fuzzy, he said he wants to represent many perspectives, especially from young people who are newcomers to the Village.
"What [Parker] and I are doing is creating space for neighbors to have that conversation, and no matter the outcome, that's a service for the residents," he said.
Wilson said he and Parker haven't taken a stance on what should be done with the hospital buildings, which are slated to be developed into a medical complex with a 24-7 emergency department, full-service imaging center, outpatient surgery facility and apartments.
The group will hold its next story circle on Tues., Aug. 9, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Father Demo Hall, 25 Carmine St. They accept donations via their website.
