Mildred’s Umbrella showcases plays by high school students about gun violence
When schools reopened, parents and students got to trade the new terror of COVID for the old and constant one of school shootings. That terrible normalcy when it comes to firearms deaths is the reason behind #Enough, a nationwide presentation of plays written by high school students about gun violence. For the second year in a row, Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company is participating in spreading the works of young people living under the shadow of mass shootings.
“This is not something that they should be worrying about,” says Mildred Umbrella artistic director Jennifer Decker. “Now, they’re used to it happening, they are almost expecting it. They’re being prepared for it all the time.”
The presentation will cover eight plays selected by a committee that includes Pulitzer Prize finalist Rajiv Joseph and Drama Critics Circle Award winner Lydia R. Diamond, as well as Manuel Oliver. The latter’s son, Joaquin, was one of the 17 people killed when a shooter attacked Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in 2018. Since then, there have been more than 130 shootings on school campuses and at least 26 deaths according to Everytown for Gun Safety, including 10 people who were killed at Santa Fe High School outside of Houston just three months after the Stoneman Douglas incident.
Despite a nationwide call for more gun control, little has been done to address the issue. The creators of #Enough hope that by giving kids a voice, that may change.
“These eight plays not only shed light on the complexity of the issue of gun violence, but they also reveal that gun violence is a symptom of much larger root issues, like racial and economic inequality, that our country has failed to deal with,” says Michael Cotey, #Enough’s artistic producer. “Their perspectives are not only wise but bold, provocative and vital to the urgent moment we find ourselves in.”
The plays will be presented virtually in a combination of readings, animated shorts and filmed skits. Each is about 10 minutes long. No Houston teens contributed plays to the program, but Decker has gone out of her way to recruit members of the Houston theater scene to volunteer their time and talents. Mildred’s Umbrella co-founder John Harvey is producing two of the plays. Alric Davis of the Bayou Theatre Company and Juan Sebastián Cruz of the Alley Theatre are also involved.
Decker has read through all of the works and found some disturbing throughlines that highlight what constant threats of gun violence have done to the next generation.
“I feel like some of them just take it as the way it is now, and that’s what’s most disturbing in my mind,” she says. “There’s always a character who is completely desensitized, and there’s always one who forgives the shooter. One line stuck out to me: ‘It’s not his fault, and it’s not our fault. The adults owe us safety, but they don’t give it to us.’ At least if they can have a voice in the situation they have something.”