Bleeding Heart Theatre to Present THE AMISH PROJECT Next Month

A brilliant meditation on radical kindness. When faced with the most terrible of atrocities, what do you do? For most of us, the first instinct is for justice, or even revenge. For the Amish of Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania, however, the response to a shooting in their schoolhouse was forgiveness. Jessica Dickey's THE AMISH PROJECT, a Bleeding Heard Theatre production presented in association with Pacific Theatre, is a fictional exploration of the real-life shooting in an Amish school in Nickel Mines, and the instant forgiveness offered by the affected community to the gunman and his family.

While based on a tragically-familiar historical event, playwright Jessica Dickey maintains a firm line between the fact and fiction of the play. The factual events are real, but the characters, from the gunman's widow to young girls whose lives were lost to a nearby convenience store worker and the shooter himself, are fictional.

In a statement on her website, Dickey states "In an effort to balance the conflicting desires to remain sensitive to the real people who were affected by the shooting, while giving myself creative license to write an unflinching play, I purposefully did not research the gunman or his widow... The characters in THE AMISH PROJECT are fictional."

"This story moves me every single time I watch, read, or listen to it", says director Evan Frayne on the piece. "I am excited to share it with an audience." Lone performer Susie Coodin agrees, "It's an important story that will touch people in different ways, and raises questions we all face regarding forgiveness, love, and relationships."

Artistic Team: Directed by Evan Frayne. Featuring Susie Coodin. Set Design by Carolyn Rapanos. Sound Design by James Coomber. Lighting Design by Jonathan Kim. Costume Design by Jacqueline Firkins.. Stage Management by Susan Miyagishima.

IF YOU GO:

THE AMISH PROJECT by Jessica Dickey

When: Nov 6-21, Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm, 2pm Saturday matinees and Sunday Nov. 15

Where: Pacific Theatre, 1440 W 12th Ave (at Hemlock), Vancouver, BC

Tickets: $22.99-29.99 (not incl. taxes or fee), to book visit pacifictheatre.org or call 604.731.5518

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