Twenty students will gather at the Alliance Theatre next week to begin the 14th annual Palefsky Collision Project. This diverse group of teenagers from around the metro Atlanta area will explore a classic text under the guidance of a professional playwright. The provocative 1955 play Inherit the Wind will serve as the source text that will inspire a new performance piece developed by the students. Under the guidance of the Alliance Theatre's Mellon Playwright in Residence, Pearl Cleage, and Director Patrick McColery, students will explore themes of intellectual freedom, tolerance, and the role of religion and science on education, and will examine how these themes are manifested in modern times.
"We try hard to activate the imaginations of our participants by offering them challenging work that allows them to examine what they believe and how those beliefs shape their perceptions of other people who may think differently," said Pearl Cleage, who is looking forward to leading her fifth Palefsky Collision experience. "I am always inspired by their optimism and their willingness to tackle the problems their generation will be called upon to solve in just a few years."
Each year, the Alliance assembles an impressive group of guest speakers and artists to work with the students on writing and performance exercises leading up to the development of the final production. This year, special guests include Singer/Songwriter Doria Roberts; Writer and Artist Zaron W. Burnett, Jr.; West African Dance, Culture, and Sekere specialist Mama Yeye; Actor, Composer, and Artist Bryan Mercer; and Actor, Vocalist, and Teaching Artist Danye Evonne. The students will also visit the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the High Museum of Art.
Through improvisational exercises, oral history, choreography, and each student's own talents and skills, the participants will create a new theatrical piece inspired by the classic text, but perceived and shared through their own unique and contemporary experience and told entirely through their own creative writing. They will present two free public performances of their original play developed during the three week intensive.
The Alliance hosts open interviews each year, calling for students "who have something to say and the desire to say it." The ensemble of the Palefsky Collision Project is made up of actors, singers, dancers, writers, directors, and techies. Any high school student, regardless of experience, is invited to interview to become a part of this project.
This project is free to all participants through generous support from Turner, the Georgia-Pacific Foundation, the Zeist Foundation, Howard and Victoria Palefsky, and the National Corporate Theatre Fund.
ALLIANCE THEATRE PALEFSKY COLLISION PROJECT PUBLIC PERFORMANCES
STUDENTS CHOSEN TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR'S PALEFSKY COLLISION PROJECT ARE:
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