When 'Enough' Is Too Much: Silencing Plays to End Gun Violence in Baton Rouge

On Monday evening October 6, more than five dozen theatres, professional and academic, around the US performed Enough! Plays to End Gun Violence, a half-dozen short plays selected from a semi-annual national competition among high school student writers to explore the theme in its title. However, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a fully rehearsed performance originating within the East Baton Rouge Parish Public Schools system was silent, canceled at the last minute for indeterminate reasons.

Organized by Alison Singelton, a theatre specialist at the district level, and Emily Rodriguez, a theatre teacher at Liberty Magnet High School, the Baton Rouge performance drew upon students from multiple schools following a call to middle and high schools throughout the district, though the majority of the cast came from Liberty. Billed in Baton Rouge as “Echoes of Enough: An Evening of Art, Truth, and Hope” and expanded to include additional musical performances, the show was to be presented at the 350-seat Manship Theatre, officially under the aegis of the East Baton Rouge Parish Fine Arts Department Theatre Programs in partnership with the Mayor-President’s Office of Community Development.

However, late last week, the production was canceled, following two weeks during which a variety of officials from the school district and the Mayor-President’s office attended rehearsals.

Recognizing the sensitive nature of the topic from the start, the project sought multiple permissions for participants. Student Janiya Jackson recounts, “We had permission slips, signed by our parents and also had field trip forms by EBR to attend the Manship Theater on Monday. So they were more than aware of what we were doing.”

But as the event drew closer, visitors to rehearsal became frequent, understood variously to be members of the school board, legal and security staff from the school district, and staff from the Mayor’s legal and community engagement offices. However, the students said that these representatives were less than engaged. 

Student Ember Van Buren recalled, “They barely looked up from their phones and I even remember this one man’s phone going off in the middle of my classmate’s performance and he never turned his ringer off. They never stayed for the full rehearsal and they only occasionally looked up during parts with more emotional scenes. I remember being mad, or rather upset that they never even tried to pretend that they cared for the material of the plays.” Student Brianna Lawson echoed that account, writing, “We welcomed them into our safe space with open arms while they slept through our performances, chatted on their phones and continuously stepped out to make and/or take calls. They didn’t even have the decency to fake like they cared.”

While the half dozen plays selected obviously dealt with strong emotional content, there was minimal profanity (a single use of the word “fuck”) and no sexual content. Gender identity and sexuality are mentioned, not explored. The plays are not overtly political. Nonetheless, the various visitors did start to exert censorship in their wake.

Student Stacy Castro Chic wrote, “When we heard certain words like the f-word were going to be censored, it felt strange. We understood wanting to be mindful of language, but we couldn’t help question the priorities. Why censor a word when the play itself is about children dying from gun violence? Why clean up something that is so raw and real?” Echoing her castmate, student Amari Moore wrote, “We can’t say the f-word but we can talk about kids getting shot and killed,” going on to say of the visitors, “When they left they would praise our skills and tell us we were talented. If we are so talented, why cancel our show? The subject is ‘too much’ for the public? Too graphic? Or was it just too real?”

The actual notice of cancelation was highly uncharacteristic. Notice came to Allison Singleton not from the Mayor’s office or the school district, but rather from executive assistant at the Manship Theatre, which the Mayor’s office had engaged for the event, telling Singleton when she called to finalize details that the event had been canceled.

Responding to a request for comment, Taylor Gast, Administrative Director for Communications and Public Relations at east Baton Rouge Parish School District wrote, “The event that this performance was a part of was canceled. The district did not cancel the play. We are actively working on coming up with an alternative solution so the children can perform.” In a follow-up, Gast stated, “None of our schools had anything to do with the performance being postponed. I do not know who made the final decision about the event.” Emails to the Mayor-President’s office and to the leadership at the Manship Theatre did not receive a response.

Issuing a statement following the cancelation, Michael Cotey, artistic producer of Enough wrote a statement addressed to the school district leadership which read in part, “Censoring students in this way runs counter to the very spirit of education. Enough! Exists to confront the fear and anxiety that young people live with every day in the face of gun violence. Silencing those voices send the message that their experiences and their safety are too uncomfortable to acknowledge.”

In a social media post upon the cancelation, Janiya Jackson wrote, “If EBR thinks that myself and other members who are in the Enough play are going to sit here and let nothing happen they have another thing coming. We will not be silence[d] about this worldwide issue. There [are] over 40,000 gun related deaths a year and @ebrparish.schools thinks that our show is a JOKE. News flash: We don’t need you guys to do our reading!! Your censorship and ignorance will not stop this issue from being broadcasted for people to see.”

The teacher-organizers confirmed that discussions are underway for the show to be rescheduled at the school, consistent with the District’s statement, however it will be by invitation only for family and friends of the cast, blunting the potential effect of a public event speaking out against and dramatizing gun violence. If the District’s denial of cancelation is accurate, it remains uncertain what transpired between the Mayor’s office and the Manship theatre that resulted in the suspension of the show and what specifically troubled the adults in authority so much that they had to silence the show.

In the meantime, the students remain fired up. Student Alayah Knox wrote, “During the auditions for this production on August 27th there was a a shooting in Minneapolis at a Catholic Church. But yet this is an issue that is too “sensitive” to touch on? School shootings are real. Abuse in relationships is real. Death, is real. If all of this wasn’t real it wouldn’t be an issue but it is. Yet our school system decided to cancel this show that had such an important and real message behind it. We were going to be representing and standing for our people but we were cut off. I’ll say it once and I will forever say it again we have a gun problem, and this needs to be stopped for the safety of the people.”

[Note: in 2023, this writer co-sponsored a New York presentation of Enough! Plays to End Gun Violence through his position at the Baruch Performing Arts Center. He had no involvement in the 2025 edition.]