Bullying, suicide, school violence, homophobia, troubled families… issues which are painful, difficult, and all too real in the lives of many children today. Some members of our community may be skeptical and ask, “Why Heathers?!?”
What happens when the audience sees a character experiencing struggle, doubt, and pain? Empathy. Our vision in choosing plays such as Heathers: the Musical is to downplay the scandal, and rather expose the truth of teen experiences in this dark comedy that are expressed in sometimes absurd and exaggerated ways.
We continuously help our students wrestle with uncomfortable content as an impetus for dialogue and action based in concert with the productions we have chosen. This is very intentional on the part of our school’s Theatre Arts program. Issues that our communities have sought to address.
This is yet another extension of the curricular work and opportunities for dialogue that happen on campus, outside of the theater, that we hope creates conversation in our homes. It is in that dialogue, that we create space for things that are hopeful, kind, and loving, and we empower our students to speak and stand against negativity and cruelty. In some cases the conversation has been ongoing, such as our school-wide conversations on social media, masculinity, and harassment that were an essential lesson of our production of Good Boys and True.
In the case of Heathers, this has taken place with our implementation of specific mental health check-ins we’ve been doing with students as well as our Mental Health Awareness Week (September) and our campus Wellness Center.
We have been engaged with students in helping them think about and take action on their mental health. Heathers surfaces lots of issues that our students are collectively dealing with: anxiety, fitting in, depression, navigating the social circles/norms of high school, and also surfaces ones that have risen to national prominence: bullying, homophobia, and the epidemic of gun violence in schools.
This is a place of Educational Theatre. A place where art helps to enlighten, raise awareness, and open dialogue that benefits individuals involved, the audience, and the wider community. The content of Heathers can help facilitate wider school conversations on the themes raised in the performance in collaboration with the school's Student Support team and various academic departments as well as community mental health groups.
If you or anyone you know is having a mental health emergency, call 911 or go to the nearest emergency room.
You can also call 988 for the National Suicide and Crisis Hotline
Call 211 or text HOPE to 20121 for the Contra Costa Crisis Center
