Big Ten New Play Initiative: Good Kids
Big Ten New Play Initiative: Good Kids
By Naomi Iizuka
Director Seret Scott
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UMD has partnered with the Big Ten Conference schools to create a new playwriting and performance initiative. Known as the Big Ten Theatre Chairs, the group will commission, produce and publicize new plays in an effort to influence the national dialogue about women.
The program’s first commissioned work, Good Kids, is written by Naomi Iizuka, one of the nation’s most acclaimed young authors and head of playwriting at University of California, San Diego.
Good Kids explores a casual sexual encounter gone wrong, and its very public aftermath. Who is telling the truth? Whose version of the story do you believe? What does that say about you? This play responds to actual events that went on to generate a national dialogue.
Preview by The Gazette
The play explores the aftermath surrounding the teenagers from two different worlds, where the athletes can do no wrong and the victimized are blamed for their problems. By taking the experience and putting it into a theater production, audiences can understand the emotions involved in cases they may only know from news reports.
— KIRSTY GROFF, The Gazette, February 25, 2015
Review by UMD Writer's Bloc
The performance presents yet another imperative dialogue, allowing for diverse open forum and a chance to confront the ignorance surrounding the issue, making it possible for those affected to speak up.
— JOE ZIMMERMAN, UMD Writer's Bloc, March 1, 2015
Review by The Diamondback
The play highlights not only sexual assault’s too-real prevalence, but also the everlasting residue Internet activity leaves. It shows that every click, post and like leaves a ghost, long after its seemingly permanent erasure.
— DANIELLE OHL, The Diamondback, March 1, 2015
Review by DC Metro Theater Arts
Good Kids is a shot of adrenaline that fuels a touchy discussion which should be happening on more college campuses nowadays. Give a shout out to UMD’s School of Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies for not being afraid to tackle the tough issues by going to see Good Kids.
— RAMONA HARPER, DC Metro Theater Arts, March 1, 2015
Review by The Washington Post
Leigh Wilson Smiley, director of the School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies, said it’s a lens on “how theater can speak the unspeakable — motivate people to talk about and initiate change.”
— SUSAN SVRLUGA, The Washington Post, March 2, 2015