Bullying has been making all sorts of headlines lately, perhaps because it had been systematically ignored for so long, even after its most negative side effects emerged in the late 1990s and has not subsided since. In recent weeks, an elementary student in Hartford brought weapons with him to school because he was being bullied and did not feel safe; the silver lining in that case was that the student wisely turned in the weapons before they could be used.
On the surface, it might seem that youth attending Glastonbury High School would have nothing in common with peers at AI Prince Tech in Hartford. As it turns out, the phenomenon of bullying is persistent and crosses boundaries of class, race, and gender. HartBeat Ensemble helped to guide youth from both high schools through the process of creating and performing a play — Vengeance Academy — about bullying and its possible consequences. The students determined through use of the consensus process what the topic, plot, and dialogue of the play would be, which they performed tonight at AI Prince Tech. As part of the process, students brainstormed about the things that they think about every day, that make their lives easier, that they worry about or that make their lives harder, and that make them angry. The representation of these brainstorms was hanging on huge sheets of paper posted on the walls of the room where Vengeance Academy was performed, thus, lending a transparency to the creative process.
After the performance, actors, directors, and crew availed themselves to questions from audience members. During the talk back session, when asked what the students wanted to achieve with this piece, one of the actors said that it was a way of saying “open your eyes” to the problem of bullying.
The students worked together for five weeks to create the play. There will be one more session of the Youth Play Institute this year. To learn more about Youth Play Institute or HartBeat Ensemble, visit the website.