By Community Alliance Staff
One year has gone by since Sarah Reyes, regional program manager of the Central Valley for the California Endowment, invited Patricia Wells Solórzano and Agustin Lira (cofounder of El Teatro Campesino and 2007 recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship Award) to form a theatrical group with Fresno youth. The aim was to raise awareness of the problems negatively affecting the health of boys and young men of color.
During that year, Wells and Lira recruited children, teenagers and adults from the communities of Fresno and trained them in music and theater to the extent that they are now ready to present the fruit of their labor, a play titled The Conscience of a Bully.
The play is about a bully who terrorizes younger students and her conscience that struggles against her violent behavior to make her understand that she must change her destructive ways or pay a dear price. One day, Sammy, a favorite victim of the bully, comes up with a plan to teach the bully a lesson that will turn her world upside down, inside out.
As the play unfolds, it reveals different levels of bullying in school by students, by teachers and administrators; it shows the ugly face of profiling of innocent children by the police and introduces the super‐duper bullies who limit the constitutional and privacy rights of all—spies from the government.
Though the play focuses on these serious issues, be assured that a great deal of humor, slapstick, comedy and satire have gone into the mix to ensure the enjoyment of all. If people are not laughing, they are not learning.
The play is sponsored by Teatro de la Tierra and Centro Binacional de Desarrollo Indigena Oaxaqueño; Southeast/Central/Southwest Fresno Building Healthy Communities; the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Cultures Grant Program and Creating Leadership Program; the David and Lucile Packard, James Irvine, and William and Flora Hewlett foundations; and the Dickey Youth Center (Chicano Youth Center).
For more information, contact agustinlira1@gmail.com and patriciawells1@gmail.com.
The Conscience of a Bully
Written by Agustín Lira
Directed by Agustín Lira and Patricia Wells
An original 75-minute show of live music and drama, humor and social commentary about the bullies in our lives
EOC Sanctuary Stage Theater, 2336 Calaveras St.
Saturday, May 17, 3 p.m.
Sunday, May 18, 3 p.m.
Tickets $5
Call 559-485-8558 for more information
