Hampton High School Drama Club presents #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence

The Hampton High School Drama Club proudly presents #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence on April 13, 2023, at 7 PM in the Hampton High School Auditorium Main Stage. The plays were written by teens who won a national contest in 2020 sponsored by the Chicago-based ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence. Hampton presents three of the winning one-act plays: Malcolm by Debkanya Mitra, Ms. Martin’s Malaise by Adelaide Fisher, and Guns in Dragonland by Eislinn Gracen. 

For #ENOUGH tickets, contact Dawn Hankins at dhankins1@hampton.k12.va.us or 757-896-3865. Tickets in advance or at the door are $5 for one and $10 for a family of up to four. Cash or check only. Festival seating. 

The plays amplify teen voices who have inherited a culture of gun violence. They advocate action and applaud the creative talents of those in our community who feel enough is enough! In Malcolm, four individuals tell the story of a Black folk musician whose quest through the Eastern Seaboard to find himself was violently interrupted, painting an evocative picture of the connection shared among strangers through a single life. In Ms. Martin’s Malaise, an ordinary high school teacher tries to deal with the everyday stress and worrying ‘what-if’s’ of 21st century teaching. But when her worst fears come true, she is forced to make a difficult decision and an even more difficult confrontation. What will she do? How will she move forward from it? In Guns in Dragonland, during a recess like any other, Lilah Gordon and her best friend/imaginary dragon, Toucan, set off on a special adventure to help Lilah earn dragon wings of her own. However, things go awry when a mysterious noise from her elementary school compels the duo to embark on the biggest quest they have ever encountered.

Kamyl Garner, vice president of drama club, driver in Malcolm and Fate #2 in Ms. Martin’s Malaise, shared, “#ENOUGH is a place that brings us awareness to the anxiety we swallow going into school every day. Showing the real thoughts behind Ms. Martin’s facade or the perspective of a simple driver who picked up a hitchhiker gives this issue a face, a voice, a sound, a space on a stage to be real, to be genuine. This is stress that needs to be shown. Pain that needs to be visualized.”

Seriyah Johnson, parliamentarian of drama club, Bandmate in Malcolm, and digital music designer for the production said, “These #ENOUGH plays are ways that we share our voices, tell our stories, and voice our concerns. Silence is not an option. Silence gets us nowhere. Fear may be present in our minds but that fear only pushes us harder and makes us stronger.”

“Gun violence is much too prevalent today. Our students need the outlet to share their fears, concerns and the tools to be able to deal with what seems to be an everyday occurrence,” said Wanda Mitchell, drama club sponsor and co-director. “These plays offer just that. Each student has invested time, energy and emotion - facing their personal fears and moving into a place of the realization that each day is indeed a gift and not to be taken lightly.”

#ENOUGH and its supporters seize this moment in history to express the enduring frustrations, anxieties and wounds from sudden gun violence that traumatize individuals, families and communities long after the sounds of shots and news media cycles silence. In the words of Pulitzer-prize winning author and playwright Toni Morrison, reprinted from the Preface to #ENOUGH, “This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no need for silence, no room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.”

#ENOUGH is produced by special arrangement with Playscripts, Inc. (www.playscripts.com). For more information on the 2023 call for teen playwright submissions, go to ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence.