Palm Beach Dramaworks Announces The Dramaworks Ethics Project

Palm Beach Dramaworks, in partnership with PNC Bank, is pleased to introduce the Dramaworks Ethics Project Presented by PNC Arts Alive, an exciting, digital storytelling venture created to stimulate young people to think critically about their own ethics and principals. This interactive, multimedia project will be presented in conjunction with PBD's production of Donald Margulies' Collected Stories, which runs from February 3 - March 5 at the Don & Ann Brown Theatre.

Students from high schools throughout Palm Beach County will have the opportunity to participate in the program, which invites them to create digital stories addressing a range of issues including loyalty, creative freedom, plagiarism, and personal responsibility. All of these concerns are central to Collected Stories, in which the protégée of an established author writes a novel based on her mentor's relationship with a famous poet.

Students will examine, discuss, and debate two fundamental questions: What does it mean to be an ethical person? How do we identify what is ethical when we are faced with challenging decisions and strong external influences? The Dramaworks Ethics Project Presented by PNC Arts Alive seeks to encourage students to think for themselves, nurture their resourcefulness and originality, and help them develop their unique voices. They will expand on their reactions, thoughts, and feelings by creating their own digital stories using a combination of text, video, music, and audio. These pieces will be collected, reviewed, and uploaded to an exclusive webpage on PBD's website created specifically for this project, and will be shared with Palm Beach County school administrators, educators, arts and community leaders, and PBD patrons.

In addition, over 400 students will be invited to attend special school-day performances of Collected Stories on February 14 and February 21 at 10:00am. A post-performance discussion follows, with an ethics expert leading the cast and audience in a discussion about principles and personal responsibility.

Palm Beach Dramaworks is a non-profit, professional theatre and is a member of the Theatre Communications Group, the South Florida Theatre League, Florida Professional Theatres Association, and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. The Don & Ann Brown Theatre is located in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, at 201 Clematis Street.