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Free ‘Pizza With Shrimp on Top’ today
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
I have been intrigued by the title of Aaron Levy’s play “Pizza With Shrimp on Top,” but I didn’t realize what it was about until I got word that it’s getting a free staged reading today for all of Cobb County’s 300 high school English teachers. It’s also open to the public.
“Pizza” is not about the latest trend at Little Azio, but a script for young adults on the topic of suicide.
“No, I never attempted suicide, but I knew people who did, like just about every teen today seems to know somebody,” Levi told me via email Wednesday.
“My hope is that the play shows the finality of some decisions we can make, and that we talk about the reasons we are in the kind of pain that we can get in that makes us feel suicidal. We don’t want to talk about Bob Student who tragically took his life last year, but we can talk about the characters in this play as it relates to our life.”
Levy holds a Ph.D. and teaches English and English education at Kennesaw State University, where he is also playwright-in-residence. He said he wrote the play for an issue-oriented troupe called Project Prevention while working on his M.F.A. at Arizona State.
In the play, 17-year-old Stuart trys to “off” himself by OD’ing on vitamins and cough syrup, but the young man’s journey becomes one of healing and learning.
“I did a bunch of research about suicide - mostly talking to folks,” Levy told me. “Apparently, almost everyone has had at least one suicidal thought — from “I wish I were dead,’ said almost in jest, to really planning the thing out. I was also able to tap into my own feelings in high school when I felt like I was spiraling, taking one step forward and two back. It was always a combination of things, too — high school, parents, depression (though I didn’t know it). Like Stuart says: ‘It’s just I get down for so long and I keep thinkin’ the next day’s gonna be better than the last day, but it’s worse than the day was before, and you know, the spiral just…I don’t know.’ “
You can check out the play for free at 9 a.m. today at Sprayberry High School (2525 Sandy Plains Road, Marietta. 770-578-3200).
“Shrimp With Pizza” has been published by Dramatic Publishing and nominated for the 2007 Distinguished Play Award in the category of Middle School and Secondary School Audience plays presented by The American Alliance for Theater in Education.
Learn more about the play at Levy’s website. He promises photos and video from today’s event.
Comments
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By Susan Polk
August 16, 2007 10:19 AM | Link to this
How can other teachers and counselors have to offortunity to see the play? Is it possible to have a show for a faculty or PTA meeting?