Speech & Debate at Studio Theater at Beck Center for the Arts

Speech & Debate, written by Stephen Karam and directed by Don Carrier, follows three misfit high school students in Salem, Oregon who form an unlikely debate club with a singular goal: exposing their corrupt drama teacher. The students channel their outsider energy into a musical adaptation of The Crucible, an unconventional podcast, and a series of subversive schemes as they navigate the complicated terrain between adolescence and adulthood. Karam's signature wit drives this comic portrait of alienation, hypocrisy, and the universal need to belong. The production runs May 29 through June 28, 2026 in the Studio Theater at Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood, Ohio.