The student matinee.

Friday morning, Pregnancy Pact had its long-awaited and much-discussed student matinee performance.  I am so disappointed to have missed the chance to be in the theater full of real, live teenagers, but I did get some really great reports from everyone who was there.  Roughly 120 students saw the show and participated in a wonderful talkback afterwards with the cast, Laura May Ackley, and two teen mothers who work with Laura's Lund Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.  They were a great and vocal audience during the show and they had what sounds like a meaningful post-show discussion.

One of the participating schools was the Austine School for the Deaf in Brattleboro, VT.  The show was performed with two sign interpreters, Christopher and Aimee Robinson (pictured below with the cast.)  If there was any performance I was heartbroken to miss, it was this one.  They came to the show on opening night and I got to hear a little bit about their interpreting process - it sounds fascinating.  Between the two of them, they covered all eight roles with different postures for each character.  They provide a full performance of their own at the side of the stage to compliment what's happening in the scene.  I can only hope that Chris and Aimee join us in the future so I can see them in action!

After the show, Lauren ran into a group of students at the Country Store and had a chance to talk with them off-the-record, without the pressure of the talkback.  She sent Julia and me a list of highlights from that discussion, including:

"You were a bitch, but then you weren't...you guys took a turn!" 

"We didn't want to come, but then we did and we actually had fun." 

"These gummy bears are really good." 

"YOU'RE GOING STRAIGHT TO BROADWAY!"

While we never intended the show to be used as a teaching tool - and we certainly didn't write it with an easy lesson at the end - we are so honored that Weston saw the opportunity to show students something that isn't easy and isn't pretty.  I've never wanted to speak for teenagers with my writing, but it means so much to hear from them that they connect with the material and see what's onstage as an honest depiction of life (albeit with characters making extreme decisions.)

All hats must go off to Weston for being brave and daring enough to present the show - wholly unedited - to these schools.  And all hats must be put back on and go off again to the schools, administrators, and teachers who gave our show a chance to reach this audience.  We are beyond humbled.