SBCC Theatre Arts Department Presents GOOD KIDS

SBCC Theatre Arts Department will present GOOD KIDS, a new play by Naomi Iizuka as its Student Showcase production, November 12-21, 2015 in the Jurkowitz Theatre.

THE PLOT

Something happened to Chloe after that party last Saturday night.

The problem is, she can't remember anything. And everybody at high school is talking about what happened. Was she raped? Did she ask for it? How could those boys do that to her? Or did they? Set in a high school in the American mid-west, in a world of Facebook, Twitter, smart phones and YouTube, Good Kids explores the very public aftermath of a sex crime and its cover-up. Who's telling the truth? Whose version of the story do you believe; and what does that say about you? Loosely based on the Steubenville High School rape case, Good Kids is provocative, haunting and stunningly current.

THE PLAY AND PLAYWRIGHT

In 2010, leaders of the Big Ten Theatre Consortium recognized an under-representation of women in theatre, both as playwrights and in the availability of substantial female roles, particularly those suitable for college-age actors. Uniquely positioned to address this need, the Big Ten Theatre chairs decided to commission, produce, and publicize three new works by female playwrights over a three-year period, with a secondary goal of creating strong age-appropriate roles for young women.

The first commissioned playwright was Naomi Iizuka whose play, Good Kids, is being produced by Big Ten universities throughout 2014-16. Naomi Iizuka is professor and head of Playwriting at the University of California at San Diego. She is the author of more than 25 plays, including Polaroid Stories and 36 Views. She has received the PEN/Laura Pels Award and the Whiting Writers Award. In 2014-15 Good Kids will receive full productions at the University of Michigan, Iowa, Indiana, Wisconsin, Maryland, Purdue and Penn State. Staged readings will be held at the University of Illinois, Ohio State, Minnesota, and Michigan State.

The Big Ten Consortium includes University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Indiana, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska, Northwestern University, The Ohio State University, The Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University, University of Wisconsin, Madison.

In an article of American Theatre Magazine Iisuka discussed the play: "I think the question that the play asks is how can this happen?" Iizuka says. "If we take it as a starting point that college campuses are not filled with sociopathic predators: What is it that creates a situation where this happens?"

The play addresses a number of prevalent social issues, including the pernicious notion that the onus is on women to take preventative measures to avoid such encounters, rather than on the men who act as predators. "There's traditionally been such uneven, inappropriate responsibility placed on young women to not dress in a certain way or to limit their alcoholic intake," says Iizuka. "It's very destructive."

Iizuka had the chance to work with college students in the creation of Good Kids, and she said that conversations with them have given her hope that positive outcomes can result from candid, truthful conversations. "It's something that they very much want to talk about, and do something about," she says. "There's an enormous energy around the issue of sexual assault and what to do on campus. You don't solve a problem like sexual assault with anything other than a deep shift in attitude, and a deep shift in attitude happens conversation by conversation, in dorm rooms, parties and rehearsal halls."