Hoodie

The ensemble nature of the play, the Clump especially, meant the students were also able to learn lots of stage discipline too.

This play has so much variety that it allows for all kinds of casting choices.

The ensemble nature of this play was perfect for my students. The characters were real and resonated with 7th and 8th graders.

This is a favorite of mine. The students loved the vignettes and really created the different characters onstage.

The kids as well as the audience and family members all found something within Hoodie to which they could relate.

Loved working as a team. Clumps were described as 'delicious' by the adjudicator. Our group rose to the challenge and won best youth play at National Play Festival.

The characters are so relatable and the message so powerful that students, parents, and faculty alike enjoyed the show. The students were excited to act as characters that they could relate to, and the principal enjoyed the message for students. As a first time director, it was so well written that directing it was a fantastic experience.

The characters in this show were easy for my Middle School students to relate to. The flow from one scene to another worked very well with minimal set on stage.

Hoodie was a wonderful success with a full house each night. The community here was so impressed with the message that the sixth grade teaching team asked for us to perform it for the entire grade level. The students involved had a great time and it stretched many of them in the skills as performers.

This play is relevant and meaningful, especially to middle level students. The modernized Greek chorus keeps ensemble engaged and gives them moments in the spotlight. Parent and community feedback was overwhelming positive about the important themes within this show. The simple set makes it a great competition piece to consider.

It's a great show. Very poignant for junior high students. Exactly what we needed this year. I have loved everything Lindsay Price has written that I've used on my stage.

It was easy to produce and allowed for many students to be involved (we had a cast of 20). The length was perfect for the short time we had to rehearse it.

HOODIE was topical and fun - the kids laughed at the jokes, and the adults appreciated the issues. I thoroughly enjoyed working with the script, and the vignette style of the play allowed a lot of students to have a moment in the spotlight.

My students and I enjoyed exploring the real-life situations presented in this play, sometimes humorous, sometimes more serious or sad, but definitely on point. The casting was very flexible and allowed for larger roles as well as group work with a few, or no, solo lines. This was perfect for my group which featured actors in grades 6-8, some trying theater for the first time. Sets and costumes were easy - changing between scenes or characters was mainly achieved through lighting, props and/or adding a costume piece or hat.

It's a wonderful vignette play that speaks to the middle school experience (was especially perfect for our 6th grade one-act)

This play was exactly what our performers needed. It was meaningful for their age, simple sets and costumes, and lots of opportunities for students to really 'get into' a role. It also gave us the chance to expand the cast to suit our needs, which was super helpful.

I've produced HOODIE before as it's a perfect piece for Middle Schoolers - relateable, current, and asks them to be strong characters.

Directing "Hoodie" was a truly joyful experience. The kids were invested right away, and appreciated the relevance of the subject matter. They had a blast during rehearsals, and really committed emotionally. After the show, we had quite a few parents approach us and tell us how touched they were by the story and subject matter.

Hoodie gave all of my students a chance to participate, build unique characters, and make each vignette scene unique and entertaining. Vignette plays are a great way to involve multiple students without a lot of pressure. Hoodie has hilarious moments and a few very sad ones - all of which reflect what teenagers are going through and feeling. My students loved rehearsing and performing the show.

The students loved it, especially the clump! They connected with this production more than any other. I had adults and previous high school students comment that this was the best middle school play they had seen. The writing was great, the message perfect, and it was not cheesy.

What I loved most about this play is how it pushed students to honestly reflect on how they view others, and to recognize when they might be too quick to judge.

Hi Lindsay,

I have just come back from my drama group performing Hoodie as part of a one act play festival competition. I have no idea if they will receive any awards yet and I really don't care because I am just so happy with how they worked as an ensemble and the excellent feedback from the adjudicator and the audience members.

People loved your script and it was absolutely perfect for our group of 11 - 13 year olds. With a 'Clump' that ended up only having 6 members, I wasn't sure how it would go but the great part about your script is that the lines can be delegated to as many or as few people as possible. I also had to make a couple of changes as to who played each role (things like my Woman 3 suddenly becoming unavailable and me then having to give those roles to the other 'Women') but the play is so flexible it worked perfectly! I wanted my Hoodie character to be a strong performer but then felt this role was a bit small and so I cast him as Jonas too and WOW! the change in his two characters was outstanding.

Anyway I really just wanted to say thank you so, so much for a brilliant script and I will try and send you some photos as soon as possible! We really appreciated the opportunity to perform your wonderful play.

I have taught theatre for over 30 years to all ages – 5 year olds through adults. I have had many experiences with students and plays, but our experience with HOODIE was simply astounding. We had very little time to prepare, but the students were so into it, loved the play so much, they worked hard and made it happen. The peals of sustained laughter from teachers and students alike was a great tonic for the actors. The quiet final moment was, in a room with 350 youngsters, totally quiet. And then there was a spontaneous standing ovation from the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade students! How cool is that?

Following the performance I got emails from faculty with words like "incredible," "excellent," "very meaningful," "impressive," and "Bravo." I can't tell you how many times faculty members have stopped me in hallways to say what a wonderful play for their students to see. One even asked me if the playwright was a middle school teacher because no one else would be able to understand middle school angst so deeply.