Belopavlovich was inspired to begin “Caged” after thinking about how similar the groups of homeless people he saw in Florida were to the community of artists he works with everyday.

When you walk down the street and see a group of homeless people, what is your immediate reaction? Do you shake your head in disgust and briskly walk by them, or do you stop to acknowledge them and consider giving them food or money?

Matt Belopavlovich, a junior BFA acting major at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is hoping people will do the latter after seeing his new theatre production, “Caged in My City”.

Belopavlovich said he was inspired to create “Caged” based on groups of homeless people he witnessed while doing a theatre internship in Sarasota, Fla. this past summer.

“The homeless groups of people I saw followed a process every day,” Belopavlovich recalled. “If it was raining they would huddle together under the library.” He said he also saw flirting among the people in these groups and intimate relationships forming and disbanding.

Belopavlovich was inspired to begin “Caged” after thinking about how similar the groups of homeless people he saw in Florida were to the community of artists he works with everyday.

The work was in progress when he showed it to Steve Smith, a graduate of the Ringling Brother’s Clown College, who suggested he add more theatrical elements to his project to help the audience clearly understand his message.

After returning to UWM this fall, Belopavlovich, with Smith’s critiques in mind, finalized the story and cast a number of actors and dancers from UWM’s Peck School of the Arts for the production.

A blend of text, dance and clowning, “Caged in My City” is about a community of performers that have bonded during their lunch break to create theatre for a purpose. Belopavlovich said the performers in the show won’t be portraying specific homeless people he witnessed in Florida, but homeless characters will show up during the performance.

One particular scene, borrowed from another student playwright, portrays a daily interaction between a homeless man and a businessman, Belopavlovich said.

“I had read this scene over the summer and knew this had to be a part of my production,” he explained. The use of a homeless character was intriguing to Belopavlovich and inspired him to continue writing the remaining script for “Caged in My City”.

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