School Safety in the 21st Century with NH Theatre Project's ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM

New Hampshire Theatre Project's Elephant-in-the-Room Series continues with the topic of School Safety in the 21st Century, featuring Poster 528, a compilation of readings on the issue of school safety. Sources include Parkland by Dave Cullen, A Mother's Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy by Sue Klebold, The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective by Maryellen O'Toole/Department of Justice, and numerous articles, surveys, poems and personal stories collected by Genevieve Aichele, assisted by Tim Barretto, Kolby Hume and Catherine Stewart.
New Hampshire Theatre Project is partnering with the Portsmouth Police Department on this program, and any donations at the door will benefit the PPD.

Following the playreading of Poster 528, facilitator Tim Barretto will host a discussion with the audience and a panel of community members, including Todd A. DeMitchell, professor of Education and Justice Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Professor DeMitchell served in the public schools for 18 years as both a teacher and administrator. He currently studies the legal mechanisms that impact schools and colleges, with a focus on education law and labor relations. Joining Professor DeMitchell on the panel will be Rochelle Navelski and Ethan Rodrigues-Torrent. Rochelle Navelski is the Community Outreach Coordinator for the Portsmouth Police Department, the PPD CRASE Coordinator (Civilian Response to an Active Shooter Event), and a certified ALICE (Alert Lockdown Inform Counter Evacuate) instructor. Ethan Rodriguez-Torrent is an escape room designer and manager based in New Haven, CT. At age 22, Ethan survived the Aurora theater shooting of 2012, then later that year watched as the Sandy Hook school shooting unfolded five miles from the home he grew up in.

Admission to the reading and discussion is free, but donations will be accepted to benefit the Portsmouth Police Department.

Now in its second year, NHTP's Elephant-in-the-Room Series presents playreadings and community conversations about subjects that we as a society often have difficulty discussing. Additional topics for 2019 include Eating Disorders & Body Image, Suicide & Self-Harm, and the Opioid Crisis & Families (touring this spring to Concord, Rochester, Brentwood and Gorham NH). Each event is moderated by Timothy Barretto, known for his UNH and Great Bay Community College courses on Managing Conflict in the Community. Questions focus on attitudes about ethical issues involved in the subject over time and today, and our responsibility as a society to bring these issues out of the shadows and into the cultural mainstream. Audience members who wish to help bring these social issues out into the open will be provided with an Action Plan for positive action steps and ways to get involved.

The 2019 Elephant-in-the-Room Series is possible through generous funding by New Hampshire Humanities, NH State Council on the Arts, and Exeter Hospital with additional funding from the NH Charitable Foundation, Portsmouth Lodge of Elks #97, and The Edgewood Centre. For more information, please visit www.nhtheatreproject.org.

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