“Code Red: Playwrights Against Gun Violence,” a collection of short plays by playwrights around the country responding to the Parkland school shooting, will be staged in Roanoke on April 20, 2018. Under the direction of Kerry Plank, the production will feature staged readings of 10 pieces written after the February 14 incident.
Three days later, on February 17, playwright Rachel Carnes of Eugene, Oregon, asked if anyone in the Facebook group “The Playwright Zone (The Official Playwrights of Facebook)” wanted to participate in a collective play to say #NeverAgain to school shootings and gun violence. Playwrights quickly responded with pieces that range from one to five minutes and reflect on the impact of gun violence in communities across the United States, including Newtown, Conn.; Red Lake, Minn.; Aztec, N.M.; and San Bernardino, Calif.
“Code Red” weaves together many of the moments that came before — or have happened since these school shootings — to memorialize the victims and to honor the survivors.
The goal is to do staged readings in all 50 states in 2018. So far, “Code Red” has been staged in Eugene, OR; Louisville, KY; Ames, Iowa: Chattanooga, TN; Minneapolis; West Orange, NJ; and Washington, DC, following the March 24 March for Our Lives.
The Roanoke production features a piece set in Norris Hall at Virginia Tech on April 16, 2007. Plank said the entire production is especially meaningful for her because one of the Tech students killed that day, Henry Lee, was a classmate and friend at William Fleming High School.
“I immediately jumped on this project when given the opportunity,” said Plank, who most recently directed Showtimers’ well-received production of “Heathers.”
“The chance to bring theater and art to help change the way we see things has always been a priority of mine,” she said. “I have been personally changed by gun violence. Violence is not an answer, and hopefully we can change some lives by doing this piece of artwork.”
There is no charge for attendance to the staged reading, which begins at 7 p.m. in Whitman Theater at Virginia Western Community College, 3094 Colonial Ave. “Code Red” playwrights have made the scripts available at no cost to any groups who wish to present them in the service of the gun safety movement.
Members of the new Roanoke chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America/Virginia, a non-partisan grassroots group advocating common-sense gun reforms, will be on hand to share information about their outreach effort.
Karen Cobb, a Roanoke mother who lost her son, Kyle Ellis, in a Florida shooting 10 years ago, leads the Roanoke chapter. She said she hopes the “Code Red” production brings out others who have been touched by gun violence in Southwest Virginia.
“I have been meeting with other parents who have lost a child to gun violence,” Cobb said. “We need to talk to people who can relate to what we’ve been through.”
The Roanoke production is planned for April 20, the 19th anniversary of the Columbine High school shooting in Littleton, Colo., and the intended date for vigils and rallies tied to the #NationalSchoolWalkout.
