PAL's Iroquois HS Students & Blue Apple Players @ 21c

If you work downtown, here's an after-work, brief event that might interest you for Monday:

The Blue Apple Players have been working with eight students from Iroquois High School to develop original drama pieces inspired by the art at 21c's Cuba Now exhibit.  On Monday, December 19, these works will be performed at 21c at 530pm for free.  The program should last more or less a half an hour.

From the press release:

The mission of the PAL Coalition is to reduce the incidence of substance abuse by young people residing in the 7th Street Corridor of Central Louisville. Through this after-school club, students have taken on a community leadership role in creating strategies and projects that will reduce substance abuse and support a healthy community. These outstanding teens selected drama as one way to communicate their message. But identifying the vehicle of drama wasn’t enough to jumpstart their work; they needed someone to lead them in how to utilize drama to make their ideas come alive. PAL reached out to Blue Apple Players. 

The PAL Coalition met Blue Apple Players Education Director Heather Burns in the fall of 2010. Burns taught the PAL students acting techniques and led them through the process of how to create an original piece of drama for several projects. 

“Teaching drama with Blue Apple is unique because it allows students to bring their own ideas to the table and trust themselves,” said Burns, “The PAL Coalition have shown me a stronger focus than many of the self-described ‘drama kids’ that I’ve taught. It’s all about their personal dedication to the mission of PAL. That’s why it was time to do something really special and partner them with the 21c Museum.”

This is a win, win situation, folks. It's a great little after-work slice of culture for you, one that is bound to reaffirm your faith in teenagers and the power of art. And it would be so nice to give these kiddos a solid audience to perform to.

So please think about going. I'll be there, and I'll head straight from 21c to our skating Tweet Up, so this isn't an either/or proposition.  And look for more on the work of the Blue Apple Players in next month's The Paper.