Third Rail Presents #ENOUGH: Plays To End Gun Violence

THIRD RAIL REPERTORY THEATRE has announced its participation in the Nationwide Reading of the seven winning plays of #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence, a national short play competition for middle and high school students. On December 14, 2020 - the 8-year remembrance of the shootings at Sandy Hook - the winning titles will be performed at THIRD RAIL and over 48 other theatres and schools across the country and abroad.

A panel of nationally-recognized dramatists - Lauren Gunderson, Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, Pulitzer Prize winner Robert Schenkkan, Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, and Karen Zacarías - selected the plays out of 184 submissions from twenty-three states and three countries in #ENOUGH's call for teens to write 10-minute plays that confront the issue of gun violence.

The plays - all written by high school students - tackle gun violence through different lenses, including the threat of and anxiety over school shootings, police shootings, community violence, race, and gun culture in American history.

#ENOUGH has made the plays available for free to schools, theatres, and community organizations to stage a reading of them, either virtually or in-person where possible, and follow that reading with a post-show discussion on gun violence that's specific to their community.

"We can't talk about gun violence in America only in the aftermath of the most tragic incidents," says Michael Cotey, producer of #ENOUGH. "Through the Nationwide Reading we're allowing every community to create the space and address the impact of gun violence now."

"As someone who was a student during a school shooting when I was in middle school, this campaign is important and personal for me," says Kelsea Ashenbrenner, Lead Artist for Third Rail's reading. "That day changed my life forever. Thankfully, no one was killed, but the effects of that day continue to come up in my life and the lives of those that were with me. I have always been passionate about the issue of gun violence in schools and in our larger community. Theatre as activism, I've found, is a very effective way to create positive changes in our local communities. I look forward to sharing this national reading with you all. I'm so grateful for the team we have at Third Rail to support this event."

Third Rail's reading will be directed and performed by Core Company Members, Mentorship Company Alumni, and Guest Artists. The company is working with Nike Greene, director of Portland's Office of Youth Violence Prevention, who will facilitate conversations around the topic of gun violence and best practices for approaching this content in rehearsals and the post-show discussion, especially in acknowledging the intersectionality of race and gun violence. Greene was recently quoted in The Oregonian/OregonLive about the ongoing trauma of gun violence in Portland's Black community amid the coronavirus and political unrest: "When will the data be enough for us to pay attention?" Greene asked.

Tickets for Third Rail's reading and post-show discussion are free, but audience members are encouraged to make donations to Don't Shoot PDX and Moms Demand Action to support their work in ending gun violence in our local community. To RSVP for a free ticket, email boxoffice@thirdrailrep.org.

More details on all seven winning playwrights, including bios and headshots, and their plays, can be found online here.

About #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence: #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence is a theatre activism campaign launched by Michael Cotey in 2019. #ENOUGH strives to spark critical conversations and incite meaningful action in communities across the country on the issue of gun violence through the creation of new works of theatre by teens. #ENOUGH's mission is to promote playwriting as a tool of self-expression and social change, harnessing this generation's spirit of activism and providing a platform for America's playwrights of tomorrow to discover and develop their voices today. enoughplays.com

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