Strong Subject, Stronger Performance: Clowns With Guns

If you’re looking for a play that takes a stand and gets people talking, Clowns with Guns by Christoper Evans is a play that both audiences and students will never forget.

Step right up! Step right up! It’s the SCHOOL-SHOOT-O-RAMA! And the question everyone’s asking is “Am I walking out alive today?”

Clowns with Guns takes a theatrical and absurd look at the repeated and seemingly endless cycle of school violence. It happens, everyone is terribly upset, things continue on as normal, it happens again.

This story is mean. There are guns. The play puts school shooting violence out in the open and forces all of us to do the same. Read the play with this knowledge.

Lori Zyla and the talented students at Parkersburg High School in Parkersburg, West Virginia were not afraid of the serious subject matter and proved that when students connect with and believe in the material, great things can happen:

It is always great to direct a play that your students are 100% behind. This issue matters to them, and that shows in their performance. Great choice for a competition piece!

Great job, Gill St. Bernard’s School!