Leveling the Scales
Aaron Levy’s New Play, The Student Body, Emphasizes the Importance of Elevating the Voice of the Youth
Lights up on the stage of the Chaddick Theatre in Atlanta, GA. It’s 7PM on August 9, 2024, the opening night of Aaron Levy’s new play, The Student Body. Where do you find yourself? Allow me to give you an idea of where you could be if you happen to sit in the audience that evening.
At Krisp County High School, even after a recent tragedy, students are still begging their adult counterparts to listen and not simply hear them. The adults in the room, deafened to the students’ needs by their own ideas for solutions, wind up stimulating further danger for the latter. And when guardians neglect those they are meant to protect, it’s only a matter of time until their wards find armor of their own.
Baily George, a freshman on the KCHS lightweight wrestling team, takes on increasingly heavier weights along his journey as the hero of the story, and through him we learn the plight of the average student, notably one who wants to help everyone.
The debut cast of The Student Body
What do American students do to escape fear? Pain? Danger? And what might an aching mind do to assist in this evasion, regardless of the child’s agreement? The stories captured within Levy’s new play portray a raw, honest example of the tragic events that can happen should parents, educators, government officials, or any grownups fail to be present with the children in their lives. The Student Body acts as a microcosm of not only the issues within the American public school system, but also of many others wherein the voices of younger generations are outweighed by those senior.
Knowing that young students often won’t be found with a nonfiction book in their hands of their own volition, Levy wrote this play in order to make the topic both accessible and appealing to a wider audience. What will it take to level the scales? We are allowed room both during the play and in conversation afterward to consider what might be done.
A compelling piece that inspires the audience to improve upon our awareness and to listen when someone cries for help, The Student Body is funny, tender, and eye-opening in all the best ways. So when the lights go up on the stage of the Chaddick Theatre for a performance of The Student Body, I hope you’ll find yourself in the audience—laughing, crying, thinking, and inspired to discuss post-performance the issues highlighted throughout.
The Student Body will be performed at The Chaddick Theatre at The Galloway School in Atlanta, GA from August 9-11 and August 16-17, 2024 at various times. Follow this link for more information!
Aaron Levy is a full Professor of creative writing and English education and currently is the Director for the Master of Arts in Professional Writing (MAPW) at Kennesaw State University.
His newest play, The Student Body, placed as a quarterfinalist for the ScreenCraft Playwriting Competition in Dec ’23 (from over 600 scripts), as a semi-finalist at the Austin Film Festival Stage Play Competition and as a finalist at last year’s Southeastern Theatre Conference. Destination Theatre will fully produce (debut!) The Student Body August 9-11, 16, 17, 2024 at the Chaddick Theatre in Atlanta, GA.
