April 20, 2022, was the 23rd anniversary of the Columbine High School tragedy. It is also the day that 1st Stage — joining in a national action called #ENOUGH — began streaming readings of eight provocative new short plays by teen writers confronting gun violence in America. Cast with local actors and co-directed by three former 1st Stage Fellows — Evin Howell, Rocky Nunzio, and Madeleine Regina — the videotaped readings were released on the 1st Stage YouTube channel, where they are now available to view. (The readings are also available to watch below. For more information, go to 1ststage.org/enough.)
#ENOUGH, a project launched in 2019, hopes to harness the current generation’s spirit of activism by promoting playwriting as a tool for self-expression and social change and supplying a platform for America’s future playwrights to develop their voices today.
A committee of award-winning playwrights selected eight short new theatrical works by young writers from across the country to be presented in a series of simultaneously staged readings in multiple cities on the same evening. The plays, all written by high school students, address gun violence through a variety of lenses and experiences. The goal of this cross-country effort is to spark critical conversations about gun violence and inspire meaningful action.
The 1st Stage Co-Directors
Evin Howell (he/him) is a local videographer and actor with a background in film. Growing up in Florida, he studied film from middle school, creating shorts with friends and learning editing, to college, working to be on set for both film and commercial work whenever an opportunity was available. Evin writes scripts in his free time. He moved to the DMV after receiving a fellowship with 1st Stage. Working in theater, he knew he wanted to delve deeper into the theater industry in both acting and directing. He is determined to learn more about the great influencers of modern plays and study theater from every angle from behind the curtain to in front of it!
Rocky Nunzio (he/him) is ecstatic to be working with #ENOUGH again and to be back at 1st Stage. Acting: Columbinus (Helen Hayes Nomination – best ensemble) (1st Stage); King Lear (Baltimore Shakespeare Factory); Blue Camp (Rainbow Theatre Project); On The Farce Day of Christmas (Best Medicine Rep); Fiveplay (The Coil Project). Directing: Dreamer/Seeker (Capital Fringe). Assistant Directing: Swimming With Whales (Helen Hayes Nominated for Outstanding Production in a play), A Civil War Christmas, Well (1st Stage); Clothes for a Summer Hotel (Rainbow Theatre Project). Writing: A Very Apocalyptic Christmas (Rapid Lemon Productions). Rocky was previously the Artistic Fellow at 1st Stage in 2017.
Madeleine Regina (she/her) is a Director, Acting Coach, Movement Artist, and Performer in the DC area. With a focus on accessibility in the arts, much of her creative work centers around theater as a form of social justice, including devised projects such as Body for the Capital Fringe Festival — which focused on the stories we have been told about our physical selves — and WISE Up, a production for the company CASE, which brings assistance to adopted children and their families. Madeleine is a co-producer of the podcast “Feminist Fairytales,” an audio drama that reimagines fairytales through an intersectionally feminist lens, which was recently featured on the BBC podcast radio hour. Her upcoming projects include directing Motherhood and Other Fractured Fairytales with Theatre Prometheus and coordinating accessibility for Monstress with Flying V. Additionally, she is an Acting Coach in the Meisner technique with the New York–based Matthew Corozine Studio, a Life Stories instructor and educator with Theatre Lab, and a director with ArtStream’s Inclusive Theatre Companies.
The 2022 #ENOUGH Plays
Southside Summer
By McKennzie Boyd
A young mother, her son, and her daughter share their experience of living on the southside of Chicago, where guns don’t discriminate based on how young or old you are but it’s the color of your skin that can change which way the gun faces.
Salted Lemonade
By Taylor Lafayette
Worrying over her 18-year-old son’s well-being can sometimes feel like a full-time job for Lisa, a widowed mother who lost her husband to gun violence. But when Jamal doesn’t text her, it may be a day she’s feared ever since her husband died has finally arrived.
Every Fifteen Minutes
By Maggie Munday Odom
Commissioned by #ENOUGH, Maggie Munday is a 2020 #ENOUGH finalist.
Allegiance
By Arianna Brumfield
Growing up in a community where opportunities are scarce, Nehemiah feels burdened with the responsibility of rebuilding his fractured family. When tragedy rips a hole in his world, he must decide whether to fulfill that responsibility or seek revenge and which life he was destined to live.
In My Sights
By Tain Leonard-Peck
Told from the gun’s perspective, In My Sights follows the “life” of a gun, from its creation and adoption by a loving couple, to its theft and use in a shooting, exploring how even well-intentioned gun owners can find their weapons embroiled in violent crime.
Rehearsal
By Willa Colleary
Four students at an elite private school and their cult-of-personality history teacher must recount how and why they began the weekly ritual of obsessively performing an archetypal school shooting.
Undo, Redo
By Cameron Thiesing
No. Stop. Like this. Okay, do it again. Giving directions to her past self and her friend Rachel as if the director of a play, Caroline desperately tries to change the past as she is forced to come to terms with what really happened at school.
It’s Okay
By Anya Jiménez
In an unknown dreamscape, seemingly without time, a grieving mother grapples with her reality following the mass shooting at her daughter’s elementary school.
Write Their Wrongs
By Wyn Alyse Thomas
After surviving a shooting in their high school, four writers get together to try to write a piece that will inspire change in the nation’s gun legislation.
The 1st Stage Cast
Alana Thomas — Time (Every Fifteen Minutes) Stage Directions (All)
Tatyana Ridgeway — Joy (Southside Summer), Andre (Allegiance), Michelle (In My Sites), Mother (It’s Okay)
Nessa Amhurst — Eva (Southside Summer), Past Caroline (Undo, Redo), Jackie Herr (Salted Lemonade), Lana (In My Sites), Maya (Write Their Wrongs), Goon (Allegiance)
Axander Oge — Young Nehemiah (Allegiance), Jamal Jennings (Salted Lemonade), Prince (Rehearsal), Charlie (In My Sights), Reporter 4 (It’s Okay)
Greg Ongao — Older Nehemiah (Allegiance), Gunman (Salted Lemonade), Reporter 1 (It’s Okay)
Jonathan Del Palmer — The Gun (In My Sights), Leontvious (Allegiance), Questioner (Rehearsal), Reporter 3 (It’s Okay).
Gifty Amponsem — Tomeka (Allegiance), Lisa Jennings, (Salted Lemonade), Alex (In My Sights), Lydia (Write Their Wrongs), Present Caroline (Undo, Redo)
Sophia Colón Roosevelt — Lourdes (Rehearsal), Other Roles (Allegiance), (Undo,Redo), Emily (Write Their Wrongs), Voice (It’s Okay)
Jordan Rodriguez — Gabriel (Rehearsal), Jimmy (Write Their Wrongs), Bill (In My Sights), Reporter 2 (It’s Okay), Gunman (Undo, Redo)
WATCH: 1st Stage readings of the 2022 #ENOUGH plays
https://youtu.be/2OimO4Upb-o
