AFTER ELEVEN Explores Mental Health Issues at DC's Capital Fringe, Now thru 7/25

In the wake of the 2012 school shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., and the failure of parents, schools, and health and judicial systems to prevent mass violence, new playwright and native Washingtonian Graziella Jackson has written After Eleven, which explores this critical social issue. The play premieres at the 2015 Capital Fringe Festival, with six performances at the Hyman M. Perlo Studio, Dance Place, 3225 8th Street in Northeast, Washington, D.C.

Performance dates are:

Saturday, July 10 at 8:30 pm

Sunday, July 11 at 9:15 pm

Tuesday, July 14 at 8:45 pm

Saturday, July 17 at 10:15 pm

Tuesday, July 21 at 6:30 pm

Saturday, July 25 at 7 pm

Jackson's one-woman play, performed by Rebecca Roy, investigates a mother's journey in dealing with her son's mental illness and life at the edge of uncontrollable violence. Told through the eyes of Jude Temper, a 9-11 Pentagon widow and mother to Matty, a boy with mental illness, After Eleven investigates how systematic failures in our social, educational, health and judicial systems overburden parents and fail to prevent tragedies like Sandy Hook from happening. As Jude tries to protect Matty, After Eleven examines the burdens that parents face in trying to love and adequately nurture a child with severe mental illness.

Parents of children like Adam Lanza-the 20-year-old young man who entered Sandy Hook Elementary and opened fire on Dec. 14, 2012, killing 20 children and six educators before killing himself-often fall through the cracks, not receiving the support they need in order to prevent their children from violent crimes. According to Liza Long, author of The Price of Silence and the viral blog post "I am Adam Lanza's Mother," the majority of US citizens with mental illness are "treated" through the judicial system. Jackson was drawn to this story after hearing a radio interview with Liza Long.

"I heard her message loud and clear. Prisons cannot heal. And our broken, ineffective system fails to prevent violent crime from occurring and children from ending up in jail or dead," Jackson says. "I felt immediately called to tell that story in a visceral, emotional way." Jackson, who has a background in both theater and community-based nonprofits, premiering at the 2015 Capital Fringe Festival (Fringe), explores this critical social issue.

Jackson's 10-minute play, Palm, will be produced for the 2015 Source Festival. Her full-length play, Little Wars, received a staged reading in November 2014 as part of The Playwright's Forum, directed by Washington Stage Guild's Laura Giannarelli. Jackson, a student at The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory, holds a bachelor's degree in communication/journalism from George Mason University and a master's in communication, culture, and technology from Georgetown University. She is chief experience officer of Echo & Co, a user experience agency that designs website and mobile experiences for social good.

Tickets and Fringe buttons may be purchased in advance through the Festival (www.capitalfringe.org) beginning June 22, 2015. Tickets may be picked up at will-call at The Dance Place box office, prior to the show. For more information, follow on Facebook: www.facebook.com/afterelevenplay and Twitter: twitter.com/wearearkology.

Arkology is an emerging new playwrights' company based in Washington, D.C., founded in 2015 to foster the development of new plays focused on advancing social justice for all. For more information, email wearearkology@gmail.com.

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