Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Everyday People

Opening Night! There is nothing more exciting in the theatre world than an opening night and I'm happy to say TONIGHT is the opening of the world premiere of my play Everyday People.

The play deals with bullying in schools on every level, beginning with elementary school kids up through high school. And of course, it touches upon the issue of cyber bullying which is running rampant.

Not to sound too pessimistic, but I'm afraid bullying is never going to go away.  But I do think that if parents and teachers can pass on the message of kindness and tolerance, there may be a slowing down of the horridness we've been seeing lately.  Kids have bullied other kids since the beginning of time...I'm sure little Neanderthal children were slamming other Neanderthal children into cave walls.  But with the onslaught of technology, the ramifications of bullying via social networks and text messaging are profound.  And the results will never go away.  As Aaron Sorkin so succinctly wrote in the film "The Social Network," the Internet is written in ink. You can never erase it once it's out there.

I am hoping Everyday People will bring even more awareness to an already topical issue and hoping this type of behavior will no longer be tolerated.  I love theatre.  It educates.  It entertains.  It illuminates and inspires.  Happy Opening Night everybody!

6 comments:

MikeB said...

Congratulations. Good topic for a play. If only we could get bullies to play some parts, perhaps those of the picked-on kids. Maybe that would have a better effect than the bullies just sitting in the audience (if they attend). I hope this play helps some bullies change their attitudes and actions. I also read the news article in morningsun.net: very interesting.

Savira Gupta said...

Bullies should be made to act in the play so that they can observe their own actions.

Unknown said...

Congratulations. I'm hoping it went well. Be sure to let us know as I'm sure you will.

EC said...

Major congrats! You did it. And such an important topic for our society today. You should feel proud.

You wouldn't believe how young bullying starts, that it almost seems to be an intrinsic reaction to difficult emotions. Like anything, we need to teach kids, not to point, not to steal, not to bully.

Cheers Debbie!

James said...

Go Deb Go! You are an awesome writer and I'm so proud of you for tackling such a difficult topic. I'm sure it was amazing and had a tremendous impact. What are you writing about next?

Larissa said...

Yay! I love theatre too! It has a responsibility to educate and illuminate!