Director's Notes and Social Action
Suicide is the second leading cause of death among young people.
As part of The Prom, Theatre Arts is raising funds and awareness for The Trevor Project and #988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.
Vibrant Emotional Health administers #988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline so that help is only a call away.
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DIRECTOR'S NOTES
The Prom, a fun and peppy show, also carries a valuable message: all kids deserve to be loved. It’s simple, really. And yet, many people make it complicated, adversarial, and even hateful. In our story, Emma says “Nobody’s talking about the hate. There’s just so much hate.” Well, I want to talk about the hate for just a moment because it is the circulation of hate that is harmful to young people, to us all.
583 legislative bills have been introduced so far in 2023 that reduce or eliminate the rights of those who identify on the queer spectrum, including kids. Hate is driving that attack, and young people are not only part of those being harmed but they are watching, absorbing and learning how to spew hate. When will the world understand that harming a population does not make you superior; it actually makes you, at the least, a bully and at the most intense, a propagator of genocide. Hate of others is being radicalized everywhere we look, locally and internationally. But our differences do not entitle anyone to killing, burning books and buildings, or even legislating so that human beings can be denied lifesaving medical care.
So, what can we do in the midst of so much sickening hate? Call it out when we see it. Protect those being dehumanized. And if we are shocked into stillness by it all, then simply lean into our little pockets of the world with intentions of love. You’ll catch a glimpse of that world—a world of love, acceptance and empathy—at the end of this story. After all, theatre shows us what we can be. So, let’s be good. Let’s be kind to one another. And let’s teach our kids that they are loved and how to circulate that love in the world.