Written by Lindsay Price. High School Actors Sought for Vivid Play about Youth Bullying and Gun Violence. Auditions: August 29 & 30. Rehearsals: September 17-October 4. Performances: October 7-10. Performances will honor OCTOBER NATIONAL BULLYING PREVENTION AWARENESS MONTH
COACHELLA VALLEY REPERTORY will join organizations and millions of people across the United States in October to observe NATIONAL BULLYING PREVENTION AWARENESS MONTH by presenting POWER PLAY, a one-act play by Canadian playwright LINDSAY PRICE. This will be a fully professional production directed by CVRep Director of Conservatory and Youth Programs Howard Shangraw. In addition to performing on the CVRep stage in front of audiences, students are working with professional designers, directors, and backstage crew. The cast of POWER PLAY will be talented Coachella Valley high school students selected through an audition process. Auditions will be held on Friday, August 29 from 4-7 p.m. and Saturday, August 30 from 11 a.m.- 4 p.m. at CVRep, located at 68510 E. Palm Canyon Dr. in Cathedral City. Actors should prepare a short monologue and/or be prepared to read from the script, which will be provided at the audition.
The characters in POWER PLAY include:
Bitter, a goth girl, very observant with a sarcastic wit
Belly, an overweight fellow who uses humor as a survival tactic
Brawn, the star football player, king of the castle, and knows it
Beauty, self-proclaimed ‘most popular girl’ on campus
Breaker, a small Korean girl, extremely intelligent, extremely withdrawn.
“Violence is all about power. So is high school.” This, says Price, is the most important quote from her play, Power Play. “The play, she says, “looks at the boxes in which students are defined: beauty queen, goth girl, athlete, funny fat kid and then blows those boxes apart. The message hits hard – bullying, verbal abuse, and the horror of a school shooting. School violence is real and happens every day.” Price added, “Technically, it’s a challenging piece. The play gives student actors the opportunity to do some really detailed character and physical action work.”
ADVISORY: The action in POWER PLAY is graphic and intense. A non-functioning gun will be seen onstage and held by one of the actors. The sound of a gunshot will be pre-recorded.
POWER PLAY will be performed at CVRep for students Tuesday through Friday, October 7-10, at 10:30 a.m. Student performances are FREE, and CVRep will provide buses to take students to and from their schools.
All performances of POWER PLAY will be followed by a Q&A with the cast, crew, CVRep Executive Artistic Director Adam Karsten and director Howard Shangraw. The actors will talk about their experiences during rehearsals and performances and encourage a dialogue. Free study guides and classroom materials for preparation and post-performance discussion will be available to schools.
Shangraw said, “Trying to make a dent in the epidemic of bullying and abusive behavior by young people and adults seems can be discouraging. But the values we respect require that we continue our efforts no matter what. By addressing this behavior at the youngest age possible, perhaps we can turn the tide. At least one in five kids is bullied and 13 percent of today’s tweens (9 to12-year-olds) have reported bullying in school or online. Bullying is responsible for youth suicides and school shootings. With such compelling and honest storytelling as in Power Play, the participation of high school students from the Coachella Valley, and support from our schools and bullying prevent organizations, we can make progress. We thank the students, their families and their schools for supporting our efforts.
CREATIVE TEAM
LINDSAY PRICE – Playwright
Lindsay is the co-founder of Theatrefolk, a publisher of play scripts and resources for schools and student performers, and the co-creator of the Drama Teacher Academy. She has been involved in theatre education for over 30 years as a playwright, adjudicator, workshop instructor, resource writer, curriculum supervisor, professional development creator, and speaker.
HOWARD SHANGRAW – Director
Shangraw is CVRep Director of Conservatory and Youth Outreach Programs. He directed other Youth Outreach productions, including Before the Bell and Ophelia Lives, as well as last summer’s Theatre for Young Audiences production of Snow White. Shangraw also oversees CVRep Conservatory curriculum, faculty and schedule of classes. His own acting career includes Off-Broadway productions, summer stock, film, television, soap operas, and theatre productions for South Coast Repertory, the Mark Taper Forum, Laguna Playhouse, and Grove Shakespeare Festival. He directed productions of classical and contemporary repertoire, and musicals for South Coast Repertory, Orange County Performing Arts Center, Stella Adler Theatre, the American Academy of Dramatic Arts Acting Company, and Hi-Desert Cultural Center as artistic director. Shangraw chaired the theater department of Idyllwild Arts Academy from 2004-2014.
