Church & State Nationwide Readings Will Commemorate Parkland Shooting
(© Russ Rowland)
To commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Parkland shooting, NewYorkRep will present a nationwide series of staged readings of the award-winning, off-Broadway play, Church & State on February 14 at seven universities throughout the US.
Written by Jason Odell Williams, Church & State tells the story of a gun-loving senator running for reelection. He examines his position on the second amendment following a shooting at his children's school. The play explores how religion, guns, and social media influence our political system. Church & State had its New York premiere, presented by lead producer Charlotte Cohn, off-Broadway at New World Stages in 2017.
University theaters that will present the reading on February 14 include UCLA, Butler University in Indiana, University of Kansas, Tulane University, Point Park University in Pittsburgh, New World School of the Arts in Miami, and Elon University in North Carolina. A former Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student who survived the shooting is a freshman at Elon and will be the assistant director of Elon performance.
NewYorkRep is partnering with the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, which is providing speakers to lead talk-backs following each performance.
NewYorkRep's mission is to produce new plays and musicals that inspire and compel social change by telling stories that expose the travesty and beauty of our humanity. By illuminating social and ethical questions through art, we strive to create provocative theater that promotes empathy, compassion, and inclusion.
The mission of the Brady Center and its many local chapters is to create a safer America by ending America's gun violence epidemic.
