Lockdown is an original play that combines traditional scenes, spoken word and music to explore race, education, & the American Dream
Launched: Mar 14, 2013
Funding ends: Apr 13, 2013
In post-Katrina New Orleans, we are forced to grapple with a rapidly changing education landscape, and the issues of race, class and gender (in)justice it has brought to the forefront of local and national conversation. With the development of three different school systems, an upsurge in charter takeovers and the wholesale firing of a large majority of veteran teachers, students in New Orleans are struggling to receive a solid education amidst intense upheaval.Set in the context of the privatization of public schools, Lockdown is an original play that explores the impact of education reform in New Orleans post-Katrina. The play follows five adults whose lives are touched by the education system in different ways. Through these characters we get a glimpse in to the education system and the challenges that both they and their students face: a veteran union teacher who is fired after Katrina and now finds her grandson suspended from school, an English teacher struggling to teach a progressive curriculum in the face of pressure from the administration, a part-time creative writing teacher struggling to teach gender, sexuality and oppression in a school that does not allow her to be openly gay, a newly transplanted struggling Teach for America teacher questioning his place, and an attorney fighting the school-to-prison pipeline. In addition to traditional scenes, the piece uses spoken word and original music to explore the intersections between lives, institutions, and the ways we understand ourselves and our history.
Voices Organized in Creative Dissent (VOIC'D) is a multi-racial, anti-racist collective of artists, writers, educators, and activists who are interested in examining how the many institutions that have educated us have shaped our perspectives on racism in America. VOIC'D came together in fall 2009 as part of Junebug Productions‘ Free Southern Theater Institute class, “From Community to Stage,” which culminated in a performance of our original play Voices from the Back of the Class. For the past two years we have been writing, hosting dialogues and gathering feedback in order to reshape the piece into a thoughtful and relevant exploration of racism and meritocracy in America. VOIC'D is Hannah Adams, Troi Bechet, Keshia “Peaches” Caldwell, Kiyoko McCrae, Michael "Quess" Moore, Rebecca Mwase, Thena Robinson-Mock, Derek Rankins, and Derek Roguski.
We are raising money to do a full-scale production of “Lockdown” in New Orleans in April, 2013. To do that, we need YOUR help. Any amount you can give will help us get closer to renting a space for performance, paying performers, designers and technicians, buying props and costumes and advertising the show. We think the questions this show examines affects all Americans, students or not and we invite you to help us explore them for a wider audience.
Peace and Love,
VOIC’D & Junebug Productions
