Play Created with San Diego LGBTQ+ Youth to Take the Stage at High Schools

At local high schools, young performers will take the stage to pull back the curtain on what life is like for young trans people here in San Diego. Created in collaboration with local LGBTQ+ youth, Danny's Story is a forum theatre play that will allow high schoolers in the audience to explore their own reactions to experiencing or observing transphobia. The predominately queer cast members, who make the choice to out themselves as part of the performance, will invite students to step into character roles and interact with the professional performers in order to consider different ways to address bigotry and bias in our community.

THE PLOT:

Danny is a transgender high schooler who makes the brave decision to pursue their true identity. With music and storytelling, audiences witness his coming of age, as Danny moves to a new school in search of belonging. Along that journey of self-discovery, audiences meet Danny's family, teachers, friends, and classmates -- who are forced to face their own assumptions and biases. Designed to allow youth and adults to consider the complexities of transphobia, Danny's Story initially ends in heartache before the audience embarks on an empowering journey to alter the outcomes of the play itself.

WHY FORUM THEATRE:

A genre of performance rarely seen in San Diego, forum theatre was developed so that audiences might explore tangible ways to change the world in which we live. During the show, audiences are challenged to find new ways of supporting and empowering the central characters, encouraging young people to act on behalf of themselves or their peers when they experience injustice. This timely and ultimately hopeful play offers communities an opportunity to navigate this difficult but important conversation during a time of increasing visibility and vulnerability.

DETAILS AND TICKETS FOR PUBLIC PERFORMANCE:

For one night only, all are invited to attend a public performance of the same Danny's Story production that will tour in local high schools.

Wednesday, December 11 from 7 - 9pm

Lyceum Theatre: 79 Horton Plaza, San Diego, CA 92101

Tickets are available online for $20 at: https://blindspot.ticketleap.com/dannys-story/details

DETAILS FOR HIGH SCHOOL TOUR:

Danny's Story will play on weekdays at schools in San Diego from December 9 - 20. Press is welcome to attend a presentation at a school with advance notice. High Schools being served by the program include Mission Bay High School, San Diego High School, Serra High School, Hoover High School, Morse High School, Otay Ranch High School, University City High School, La Costa Canyon High School, and Canyon Crest Academy. For more information on the school tour, click here.

CATHERINE HANNA SCHROCK (PLAYWRIGHT): Catherine, co-founder of Blindspot Collective, is an Applied Theater Practitioner, which unites her roles as activist, educator, performer, and writer. As an artist-facilitator, she works with numerous local and international organizations including the Global Immersion Project, where she serves as a learning curator in a conflict transformation program based in Palestine and Israel. She also is the Program Director for a Forum Theatre based human trafficking prevention program through the Center for Justice and Reconciliation at Point Loma Nazarene University. Catherine designs and facilitates creative programming addressing community- building, theater for social change, arts integration, and conflict transformation. Catherine holds a Master's Degree in Educational Theater from New York University and a BA in Sociology and International Development.

BLAKE MCCARTY (DIRECTOR): Blake, co-founder of Blindspot Collective, is an artist and educator, whose work is "broadening the definition of theater" (New York Times, 2014). For Blindspot Collective, Blake has directed The Magic in this Soul (Audience Award, San Diego Fringe 2018) and Hall Pass (La Jolla Playhouse's Without Walls Festival 2019); and co-directed Untold (Award for New Work, San Diego Fringe 2017) and Qulili. His work as a director or designer has been seen locally at La Jolla Playhouse, Cygnet Theatre, San Diego Rep, Lamb's Players, Diversionary, Ion, Intrepid, and New Village Arts. As an educator, Blake has designed educational programming for organizations that include The New Victory Theater, La Jolla Playhouse, The Old Globe, New York University, New Museum, Guggenheim Museum, Tribeca Film Festival, and Invisible Children in Northern Uganda. Blake is an alumnus of Tisch School of the Arts, and the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, both at New York University.

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