AZ Students Participate In Anti-Gun Violence Project

Press release from Broadway On Demand:

Nov. 24, 2020

Nine students from the Tucson area, Mesa and Laveen participating in Arizona Theatre Company’s ATCteen program are playing key roles in the digital premiere of seven winning plays from #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence, a national short play competition for middle and high school students.

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) is one of five companies across the nation collaborating in the program. The winning plays will be available on the streaming platform Broadway on Demand (BOD) beginning Dec. 14, the eight-year remembrance of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. The digital premieres can be viewed for free. Registration is required at broadwayondemand.com.

ATCteen students will perform a staged reading of Debkanya Mitra’s play, Malcolm. Malcolm tells the story of a Black folk musician whose quest through the Eastern Seaboard to find himself was violently interrupted and paints an evocative picture of the connection shared among strangers through a single life.

Arizona students producing and starring in the digital reading are: Isabella Beres, Tucson High School; Preston Campbell-Cueva, Tucson High School; Mika Fricke, Tucson; Roark Polzin, Tucson; Petra Polzin, Tucson; Leander Rios, Sunnyside High School, Tucson; Faith Santos, Sierra Linda High School, Laveen; Zoie Staats, Empire High School, Vail; and Lauren Youngstedt, Red Mountain High School, Mesa.

“Malcolm is a powerful play about a powerful subject that is attracting young people across the country as advocates,” said Jasmine Roth, ATC Director of Learning and Education. “Participating in #ENOUGH is a tremendous opportunity for Arizona Theatre Company and our students to share their voices as part of an impactful and important effort.”

Other theatre companies producing one or more of the plays are Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA), Berkeley Rep (Berkeley, CA), Goodman Theatre (Chicago), Orlando (FL) Repertory Theatre and South Coast Repertory (Costa Mesa, CA).

The six other winners and their producing theatre partners include:

· Ms. Martin’s Malaise by Adelaide Fisher, produced by Orlando Repertory Theatre.

· Guns in Dragonland by Eislinn Gracen, produced by Orlando Repertory Theatre.

· Togetha by Azya Lyons, produced by Alliance Theatre.

· Ghost Gun by Olivia Ridley, produced by Goodman Theatre

· Hullabaloo by Sarah Schecter, produced by Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

· Loaded Language by Elizabeth Shannon, produced by South Coast Repertory.

A panel of nationally-recognized dramatists - Lauren Gunderson, America’s most produced living playwright (Silent Sky, The Heath); Academy Award winner Tarell Alvin McCraney, who the Oscar for Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Moonlight; Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, who won the Tony Award for Best Play for M. Butterfly; and Karen Zacariís (Native Gardens), winner of ATC’s National Latinx Playwright Award -- selected the plays out of 184 submissions from 23 states and three countries in #ENOUGH's call for teens to write 10-minute plays that confront the issue of gun violence.

In tandem with the Digital Premiere of the seven winning plays, all of the theatre partners have committed to creating space for community dialogue on the issue of gun violence by hosting a post-show discussion and committing to an action item that impacts their community.

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

About Arizona Theatre Company:

Under new leadership and now celebrating its 54th Season, Arizona Theatre Company is truly “The State Theatre,” with the largest subscriber base of any performing arts organization in Arizona. More than 130,000 people each year attend performances at the historic Temple of Music and Art in Tucson and the elegant Herberger Theater Center in downtown Phoenix.

Each season of high-quality productions reflects the rich variety of world theatre – from classic to contemporary plays, from musicals to new works – and audiences enjoy the rich emotional experience and joy that can only be captured through live theatre. ATC is the preeminent professional theatre in the state of Arizona. Under the direction of Artistic Director Sean Daniels and Managing Director Geri Wright, ATC operates in two cities – unlike any other League of Resident Theaters (LORT) company in the country.

ATC shares the passion of the theatre through a wide array of outreach programs, educational opportunities, access initiatives and community events. With more than 800 Education & Engagement activities through schools and summer programs, ATC focuses on teaching Arizona’s youth about the creative power of dramatic literature and how it can enrich their own lives in multiple ways

ATC reaches far beyond the metropolitan areas of Tucson and Phoenix, enriching the theatre learning experience nationally for current and future audiences.

This press release was produced by Broadway On Demand. The views expressed here are the author's own.