Intro
ABSOULUTE DARKNESS. Curtain opens and the centre lights turn on, narrator stands in the front centre of the stage. Music plays.
Narrator : Good morning dear teachers and friends, ever heard of the Paducah Killer, the Jonesboro brothers, or the Springfield shooting incidents? (Pause) Well, it had happened in 1998 and 1999; and even just five months ago, when a student brought a gun to school and shot all his friends and teachers dead! Today, we would like to bring you on a journey through Josh’s mind while he is in prison. Here the story begins… where most other stories end…
The play was found by Tricia Chung, who is also our drama director and the leader of the team. She was browsing on the net looking for a play when she came across this play, written by a famous playwright William Mastrosimone. The script is available on the net for free. From a 40-minutes play, we adapted and narrated it for 20-minutes play to suit our drama competition rules. The play had gave us a deep meaning and throughout the production of this play, we had one thing in mind -to get the message out. Seeing effects of bullies and killing happened in schools, it has become a global problem. Why? Afterall these are children. What push them to the extreme to act the things that we do not expect them would do at the first place? Take a moment to think....
(Narrator enters and right stage lights on her. As she moves to the centre of the stage, right stage lights off and centre stage lights on, along with left stage lights still on.)
Narrator : My dear teachers and fellow friends, there’s nothing in this play that glorifies or glamourizes violence. It focuses on the lasting consequences of an impulsive act for the killer as well as the victims, family, school, friends and communities. You might think we’re exploiting the shooting but we’re here to get the message out. Although shooting has not happened in Malaysia, we want people to realize this could happen in any school in any form of weapons. Even if we turn our school into security guard stations, what’s in a person’s heart cannot be detected by those of us looking from the outside.
We hope this play can be used as a powerful tool for prevention and intervention to heighten our consciousness so that we might see tragedy before it happens.
Thank you.
THE END
SYNOPSIS
“Bang! Bang! You’re dead” is a play written by an award winning playwright, William Mastrosimone, uses the elements of shootings as a jump-off point for his cautionary tale about school violence. It is based on the tragic shootings in 1998 and 1999, one of it when a student opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 23 at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, near Eugene. Kip Kinkel, a freshman at the time, killed his parents at home and then went to the school, where he shot his fellow students. In this play, the audience is brought to the potential killer, Josh (in prison) whom harbors homicidal feelings towards others. With his terrible secret, Josh is pursued by the deceased like Greek Furies, forcing Josh to a catharsis, hoping Josh will have a purging of his animosities. The play will bring the audience to the dark side of Josh, of which he thought was his moment of glory. He sees how horrible and tormented his life will be. It may occur to him that a three minute murder spree is not worth a lifetime in physical and/or psychological hell. Josh sees himself and the dire irrevocable consequences of this fantasy, or if the victim’s families should find a catharsis in the course of the evening, that would be worth all the time, effort and expense of future productions.
THEME
We hear about school violence everywhere, when school is said to be the safest place a child could be in. With such danger occurring in school, we are all bonded by our anxiety that tomorrow morning a potential killer will rise up to act out his fantasy using us as figures in a video game. We will also be bonded by the fact that thousands of kids will be doing the same play about the same danger. There is hope that our awakened senses or heightened consciousness might see tragedy before it happens. It’s a slim hope, but it’s all we have at this time. We can only make the most of it.
ABSOULUTE DARKNESS. Curtain opens and the centre lights turn on, narrator stands in the front centre of the stage. Music plays.
Narrator : Good morning dear teachers and friends, ever heard of the Paducah Killer, the Jonesboro brothers, or the Springfield shooting incidents? (Pause) Well, it had happened in 1998 and 1999; and even just five months ago, when a student brought a gun to school and shot all his friends and teachers dead! Today, we would like to bring you on a journey through Josh’s mind while he is in prison. Here the story begins… where most other stories end…
The play was found by Tricia Chung, who is also our drama director and the leader of the team. She was browsing on the net looking for a play when she came across this play, written by a famous playwright William Mastrosimone. The script is available on the net for free. From a 40-minutes play, we adapted and narrated it for 20-minutes play to suit our drama competition rules. The play had gave us a deep meaning and throughout the production of this play, we had one thing in mind -to get the message out. Seeing effects of bullies and killing happened in schools, it has become a global problem. Why? Afterall these are children. What push them to the extreme to act the things that we do not expect them would do at the first place? Take a moment to think....
(Narrator enters and right stage lights on her. As she moves to the centre of the stage, right stage lights off and centre stage lights on, along with left stage lights still on.)
Narrator : My dear teachers and fellow friends, there’s nothing in this play that glorifies or glamourizes violence. It focuses on the lasting consequences of an impulsive act for the killer as well as the victims, family, school, friends and communities. You might think we’re exploiting the shooting but we’re here to get the message out. Although shooting has not happened in Malaysia, we want people to realize this could happen in any school in any form of weapons. Even if we turn our school into security guard stations, what’s in a person’s heart cannot be detected by those of us looking from the outside.
We hope this play can be used as a powerful tool for prevention and intervention to heighten our consciousness so that we might see tragedy before it happens.
Thank you.
THE END
SYNOPSIS
“Bang! Bang! You’re dead” is a play written by an award winning playwright, William Mastrosimone, uses the elements of shootings as a jump-off point for his cautionary tale about school violence. It is based on the tragic shootings in 1998 and 1999, one of it when a student opened fire in the cafeteria, killing two students and wounding 23 at Thurston High School in Springfield, Oregon, near Eugene. Kip Kinkel, a freshman at the time, killed his parents at home and then went to the school, where he shot his fellow students. In this play, the audience is brought to the potential killer, Josh (in prison) whom harbors homicidal feelings towards others. With his terrible secret, Josh is pursued by the deceased like Greek Furies, forcing Josh to a catharsis, hoping Josh will have a purging of his animosities. The play will bring the audience to the dark side of Josh, of which he thought was his moment of glory. He sees how horrible and tormented his life will be. It may occur to him that a three minute murder spree is not worth a lifetime in physical and/or psychological hell. Josh sees himself and the dire irrevocable consequences of this fantasy, or if the victim’s families should find a catharsis in the course of the evening, that would be worth all the time, effort and expense of future productions.
THEME
We hear about school violence everywhere, when school is said to be the safest place a child could be in. With such danger occurring in school, we are all bonded by our anxiety that tomorrow morning a potential killer will rise up to act out his fantasy using us as figures in a video game. We will also be bonded by the fact that thousands of kids will be doing the same play about the same danger. There is hope that our awakened senses or heightened consciousness might see tragedy before it happens. It’s a slim hope, but it’s all we have at this time. We can only make the most of it.
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