International City Theatre has signed on to join #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence, a national campaign that seeks to spark critical conversations about gun violence by providing middle and high school students with a platform to express themselves through storytelling, foster open dialogue in their communities, and inspire creative action.
ICT joins a growing list of regional theater companies across the U.S., including
Arizona Theatre Company,
Berkeley Repertory Theatre,
Goodman Theatre, Orlando Repertory Theatre,
South Coast Repertory,
Steppenwolf Theatre Company and the Utah Shakespeare Festival, that are calling for submissions of short plays written by students about gun violence. #ENOUGH will culminate in an evening of staged readings of the most impactful plays, presented simultaneously across the country on December 14, 2020 - the eighth anniversary of the Sandy Hook shootings.
The finalist plays will be chosen by a panel of award-winning, nationally recognized playwrights, including
Lauren Gunderson and Karen Zacarías, two of the most-produced playwrights in the country; Tony Award winner
David Henry Hwang; Academy Award winner
Tarell Alvin McCraney; and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner
Robert Schenkkan. The student authors of the chosen plays will be brought to the Utah Shakespeare Festival to workshop their scripts in August before their plays are made available to communities taking part in the #ENOUGH nationwide reading.
"This is an opportunity to address an important challenge in our society," says ICT producing artistic director caryn desai [sic]. "Children's voices can be powerful. This initiative is good for our community and it's good for our children."
International City Theatre is located in Long Beach, California; desai is working closely with local schools and with Mayor Robert Garcia, local businesses and community groups to ensure that students learn about the initiative and participate.
According to #ENOUGH producer Michael Cotey, "Our young people are growing up in a country where constant gun violence is becoming the norm. That's unacceptable and shameful. Our program is an opportunity for young people to be at the center of the conversations about gun violence every community in America needs to be having. The stories these teens tell will be a powerful reminder to the rest of us that, no, this is not normal, and hopefully inspire their communities to come together to take positive action."
Submissions of short, 10-minute plays from students in grades 6-12 are being accepted through April 20, 2020 - the 21st anniversary of the Columbine shooting. Educators looking to involve their students, as well as theaters and other organizations looking to partner with #ENOUGH, should connect with the project via the website at
www.enoughplays.com, or email Cotey directly at
enoughplays@gmail.com. For more information about participating at the local level through ICT, contact caryn desai:
caryn@ictlongbeach.org.
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