GHOST GUN By Olivia Ridley Premieres Digitally As Part Of #ENOUGH: Plays To End Gun Violence

Goodman Theatre will participate in the Digital Premiere of seven winning 10-minute plays of #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence-a national short play competition for middle and high school students.

The Goodman produces Ghost Gun by Olivia Ridley, a New Jersey-based writer and high school senior whose play was selected from nearly 200 submissions from 23 states (and three countries) in #ENOUGH's call for teens to write short plays that confront the issue of gun violence. Goodman Associate Producer Ken-Matt Martin directs.

Beginning December 14-the eight-year remembrance of the shootings at Sandy Hook-and running through December 20, the winning titles will be available on the online platform, BroadwayOnDemand.com, streaming free of charge. Watch the trailer for #ENOUGH: Plays to End Gun Violence on YouTube.

Prior to the Digital Premiere, the Goodman has created space for community dialogue on the issues of gun violence, art and activism. On December 11 at 5pm, Ridley joins Goodman Artistic Associate Dael Orlandersmith (Until the Flood), playwright David Henry Hwang (Chinglish) and Dance the Vote founder Joan Appell Lipkin for a live online conversation moderated by Goodman Walter Director of Education and Engagement Willa J. Taylor. Orlandersmith's play Until the Flood, which explores the aftermath of Michael Brown's 2014 shooting in Ferguson, MO, is currently streaming on GoodmanTheatre.org, free.

"To be brought to the forefront of this nationwide dialogue in this way is, for me, a wonderful opportunity and an incredible honor. It's all still a little surreal and I can't express my gratitude enough," said Playwright Olivia Ridley. "I am beyond excited to share Ghost Gun with audiences in Chicago, across the country and around the world, to help advance this complex and incredibly necessary conversation."

Ghost Gun centers on the character of BLACK BOY (performed by Chicago-based actor Jayson Lee). Propelled by the urgency of his own decay and desperate to be heard, BLACK BOY delivers his "villain's monologue"-a parting speech typically delivered to a hero before their death-to his audience, held at gunpoint.

"It is a great honor to participate in #ENOUGH, an incredible initiative at a critical moment in our times," said Goodman Associate Producer Ken-Matt Martin, who directs Ghost Gun with a creative team including Yee Eun Nam (Video/Projection Design), Twi McCallum (Sound Design) and Cody Nieset (Video Editing). "It has been a joy to collaborate with Olivia, a distinctive emerging voice and singular talent, whose work will make an indelible impact."

The selection process of #ENOUGH's winning plays included a panel of nationally-recognized dramatists: Lauren Gunderson, David Henry Hwang, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Robert Schenkkan and Karen Zacarías. Each theater pre-records their short play and all will be presented together in a single program, bringing youth voices from four different time zones together to speak out about gun violence to a national audience. The six other winning plays and producing theater partners include Ms. Martin's Malaise by Adelaide Fisher (Orlando Repertory Theatre); Guns in Dragonland by Eislinn Gracen (Orlando Repertory Theatre); Togetha by Azya Lyons (Alliance Theatre); Malcolm by Debkanya Mitra (Arizona Theatre Company); Hullabaloo by Sarah Schecter (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); and Loaded Language by Elizabeth Shannon (South Coast Repertory).

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