The University of Akron School of Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration will present the Ohio premiere of SHOT! Requiem for a Bullet Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Written by Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon in collaboration with Eugene Martin and Douglas C. Wager, this piece, based on real life situations, was recently staged at the Kennedy Center and is being directed by University of Akron Theatre Professor Dr. Susan Speers.
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The University of Akron School of Dance, Theatre and Arts Administration will present the Ohio premiere of SHOT! Requiem for a Bullet Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Written by Kimmika Williams-Witherspoon in collaboration with Eugene Martin and Douglas C. Wager, this piece, based on real life situations, was recently staged at the Kennedy Center and is being directed by University of Akron Theatre Professor Dr. Susan Speers.
Recommended for mature audiences, SHOT! was created from interviews with residents of North Philadelphia’s projects.
While SHOT! is based on real people interviewed in North Philadelphia, the urban violence and poverty exposed and expressed so strikingly in the play is universally applicable to many cities all over America, including Akron, said Speers. It is a play ultimately about hope for change, but unless we take action soon, our rich will get richer and our poor will simply become more victimized due to our inability to solve what seems to be the overwhelming problems facing our nation today.
The show is made up of rapid-fire poetry, monologues and documentary footage which give compelling insights into lives lived in relentless and random danger. It is a meditation on the history, current strife, and future resurrection of the community.
The play is challenging because it deals with very real and serious problems that we face in America today, Speers said. Thanks to television evening news programs, we hear about shootings and people being killed everywhere, including Akron, most every night, but unless this violence takes place within five blocks of our homes or offices, we have become numb to the horror of such occurrences.
They had seen it as a group and felt a connection with it, said Speers. While their lives aren’t as bleak as the characters they portray in the play, they know that only their own education at a university stands between them and some of the people they portray.
Despite the dark themes and focus on violence, Speers hopes that audience members walk away with a feeling of hope.
Hope is supposed to be the message, but these past few years have been rather sobering for Americans, and our spirit of ‘can do’ has taken a beating all its own, said Speers.
Williams-Witherspoon is a nationally known poet and a theatre professor at Temple University. A post-show discussion will be led after each performance by the author.
Having the playwright at each of the performances to comment on the production is a great opportunity for both the cast and the audience members to hear about her experiences, Speers commented.
SHOT! is presented as a part of the Stage Door series at E.J. Thomas Hall in celebration of Black History Month. Performances will be held Feb. 25 and 26 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $10 for general admission and $5 for students. For reservations, please contact the E. J. Thomas Ticket Office at (330) 972-7570.