Montclair High School joined schools around the country in a National School Walkout to end gun violence. The activism continues with Montclair High School students Maggie Borgen, Anna Feltens, and Gabriella Ribeiro, mentored by Luna Stage incoming Artistic Director Ari Laura Kreith, who will present Code Red: Playwrights Against Gun Violence on Friday, March 23 at 6 & 8pm at Luna Stage, 555 Valley Rd in West Orange.

Playwrights from across the country are coming together to create a new piece of theater — a collection of very short plays — each one responding to a different school shootings. These plays are being produced by grassroots organizations across the country –– beginning the day of the National School Walkout March 14, 2018 and running until the National March for Life on March 24th.

Kreith decided to support the movement after reading a collection of plays by playwright Stephen Kaplan. Kreith then reached out to Borgen, who had interned with her. Kreith also knew that both Borgen and Feltens, two aspiring playwrights, were also committed politically to gun violence, as they were both involved in the recent walkout at Montclair High School.

“I trusted these students as both artists and leaders and I was interested in what I could to support and amplify their voices,” says Kreith.

Each play or monologue, running five miutes or less, is inspired by an individual school shooting event in a particular city, says Kreith.

Borgen, Feltens and Ribiero, all freshmen at Montclair High School, will all appear as actors in the plays. Borgen and Anna both wrote plays that will be included; Ribiero and Borgen will also direct.

Borgen, who co-wrote and directed her first play at Renaissance last year, says her work was inspired by how the different plays she read from the collection focused on very different aspects of school shootings and who they affect.

Playwrights whose work is featured in this hour-long evening include Connie Bennett, Maggie Borgen, Rachael Carnes, DC Cathro, Angela Cerrito, Ruthann Conley, Alexandra Cremer, Stephen Kaplan, Gabriella Ribeiro, Ricardo Soltero-Brown, Daly Sweeney, Sarah Tuft, Asher Wyndham, Dwayne Yancey.


CODE RED: PLAYWRIGHTS AGAINST GUN VIOLENCE
March 23 @ 6 and 8 p.m. at Luna Stage
Admission is free but reservations are required, with donations benefiting Everytown for Gun Safety.