ENOUGH! Premieres In More Than 50 Communities On November 6 ThinkTank To Present Tampa Reading

ThinkTank Theatre has announced its participation in the Nationwide Reading of ENOUGH! Plays to End Gun Violence on Monday, Nov. 6, at 7:30pm, at Stageworks Theatre.

ThinkTank will join more than 50 other communities around the United States to perform this year's winning play selections as art, activism, and teen voices unite on stage in a vital evening of theater addressing gun violence in our community. Admission is free and donations are appreciated.

 

ENOUGH! calls on teens to confront gun violence by creating new works of theatre that will spark critical conversations and inspire meaningful action in communities across the country. They received 244 submissions from 36 states this past spring when it called on teens to write 10-minute plays on gun violence. This year's plays were selected by nationally recognized dramatists Idris Goodwin, Lauren Gunderson, Zora Howard, Samuel D. Hunter, David Henry Hwang, Octavio Solis, and Lloyd Suh.

 

“These plays provide powerful insight into the perspective of a generation where the threat of gun violence has become ubiquitous with going to school growing up,” says ENOUGH! creator Michael Cotey, “Performing them across the country exactly a year from the next presidential election is an urgent reminder that gun violence remains a vital issue for many young voters coming of age next November.”

 

Randi Norman, an actress participating in ThinkTank's ENOUGH! reading said, “It's important because guns don't kill people; people kill people, and some of them use guns as their weapon of choice.  We have to do a better job of choosing kindness daily; we never know what people are going through.  Depression, poverty, low self-esteem, bullying, hunger, loneliness, systemic racism, inbred hatred and so much more create opportunities for people to be at their worst, but a simple act of kindness could shift a moment from tragically trending to inconsequential.”

 

The ThinkTank's reading is part of a series of readings happening simultaneously across the country. More than fifty communities across the country are staging readings on November 6th, including a cornerstone reading at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. ThinkTank's reading includes local actors: Ned Averill-Snell (All My Sons, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern), William Alejandro Barba (Frankenstein), Lance Felton (The Crucible, When the Righteous Triumph), Georgia Mallory Guy (The Elephant Man, Rose and Walsh), Isabel Natera (In the Time of the Butterflies) and Randi Norman (The Crucible, Talking With…). It also features members of ThinkTank's Young Artists' Ensemble Apprentice Company: Stella Duncan (Both Sides of the Bay, Blake HS), Adeline Richardson (The Wolves, Berkeley), and Kaylee Tupper Miller (The Lightning Thief, Bayshore Christian). It is directed by Patrick Jackson, former Associate Producer with American Stage, who now serves as the Manager of Education, Outreach and Program Design at Dr. Carter G. Woodson African American Museum.

 

“I hope that students, educators, families, and our local city officials will consider joining us as we take part in the national reading, and I have two specific reasons for this,” says ThinkTank Producing Artistic Director, Georgia Mallory Guy. “First, the plays are from the perspective of teens aiming to amplify their concerns for their families, peers, and community. It's not adults hoping to sway us with political agendas or condemnations. Second, I hope hearing the words of their peers from across the nation drives more of our incredible young people to put their own thoughts to paper and submit in the years to come.”

 

ThinkTank's ENOUGH! Director Patrick Jackson said, “I have participated in ENOUGH! readings for several years now. I am an advocate for community connection and healing and this program is yet another opportunity to spread light and awareness against violence.”

 

In addition to the staged reading, ThinkTank will host a talkback following the performance, led by Freddy Barton from Safe and Sound Hillsborough, where audience members can talk openly about the plays and perhaps share their own personal experiences. Finally, there will be an opportunity for audience members to send their thoughts to our national and local leadership, respectfully voicing their concerns for this growing issue in our own community.

 

All are welcome to attend. The program consists of six bold short plays by six remarkable young writers who were selected by a committee of America's most lauded professional playwrights. These plays address the many angles and lenses through which we see gun violence at work in America: in classrooms, in neighborhoods, and in families. Patrons are advised that the subject matter includes discussions - but not graphic depictions - of many forms of gun violence, including school shootings, officer-involved shootings, suicide, and violence against the LGBTQIA+ community.

 

For more information about ENOUGH! and the Nationwide Reading, visit https://www.enoughplays.com/reading.

 

Seats for the ThinkTank's Enough! Plays Reading can be reserved by going to https://www.thinktanktya.org/special-events-enough There is no cost to attend, though donations are appreciated. ENOUGH! does contain some adult themes and mature language and is recommended for ages 10 and up.

 

The 2023-2024 season of performing arts events for ThinkTank Theatre is made possible through the generous support of the The Gobioff Foundation, The Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners, The Florida Division of Arts and Culture, The University of Tampa Physician Assistant Program, Lab Athletics, Deviant Libations, freeFall Theatre, Stageworks Theatre, the ThinkTank BOD, Matt and Mary Gordan, Hal Freedman and Willi Rudowsky and ThinkTank's many generous donors and supporters. 

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