“Voices In Conflict” on tour: performances, awards and reactions
On April 12, the New York Times announced that the Theater Arts II class would perform Voices In Conflict in June at the the Public Theater and Culture Project in Manhattan.
Subsequently, the following performance schedule has been announced. Tickets have sold out fast fopr every performance to date. Thanks to Tim Canty and the Wilton school system, a play that might have been seen by only a few score people at Wilton High School is ending up as the hottest ticket on off-Broadway!
- Wednesday, June 6; Friday, June 8; Friday, June 22; Thursday, June 28
Fairfield Theatre Company
70 Sanford St., Fairfield, CT 06824 [directions]
(203) 259-1036
- Saturday, June 9; Wednesday, July 11; Thursday, July 12; Friday, July 13
Vineyard Theatre
108 East 15th Street, New York, NY 10003
(212) 353-0303
- Sunday, June 10
The Culture Project
55 Mercer St., New York, NY 10013
(212) 925 1806 * fax (212) 925-2531 * Box Office (212) 925-1900
- Friday, June 15
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10003
(212) 539-8500
The Music Theater International “Courage in Theater” award that was announced in March, was presented to each of the members of Bonnie Dickinson’s Advanced Theater Arts class as part of the Annual Fine and Performing Arts Awards night at Wilton High School on May 23 at 7:30 PM. Presenting the award on behalf of Music Theater International was actor Joe Pantoliano.
Articles about the performances have appeared in:
- Two articles from the New York Times: the first by Alison Leigh Cowan, who wrote the original piece that brought attention to the cancellation, the second by Melena Ryzik, about the June 9 Vineyard Theater performance.
- The New York Post (surprisingly “fair and balanced” considering the source);
- The Christian Science Monitor;
- The Stamford Advocate;
- The Greenwich Time;
- The Wilton Villager;
- The Fairfield Weekly ran an especially interesting print and video interview with Bonnie Dickinson and six of the students;
- And then there’s the Wilton Bulletin, which continues to practice what Alexander Cockburn calls “journalistic on-the-other-handism”, giving equal weight to an interview with Paul Rieckhoff and crackpot paranoid rantings from Barbara Alessi. Early on, the editorial page was publishing anonymous anti-Bonnie Dickinson screeds; more recently the same editorial page praised the bravery of the VIC cast in standing up to the taunts of other students, and offered a fair article about the performances. In the Bulletin‘s defense, their status as Wilton’s newspaper of record seems to give them access to people like Superintendent of Schools Gary Richards who have otherwise clammed up to the print media since the Times article. But really, if a mass murder was ever committed in Wilton, the Bulletin would probably offer the perp a slot on the op-ed page next to the victims’ families. Is this balance, or is it cowardice in the face of controversy?
- Amy Goodman of Democracy Now covered the June 10 performance at the Culture Project for truthdig.com, Bob Scheer’s website.
- WTNH’s news report includes brief excerpts from the performance.
I saw the June 8 performance at the FTC. Here is my reaction, and here is the exchange between director Bonnie Dickinson and a Connecticut National Guardsman who attended the same performance.
On June 16, the day after the Public Theater performance, the Wilton High School Class of 2007 will graduate (including almost half the Voices In Conflict cast).
Voices In Conflict will not be performed at Wilton High School.
What they have to say for themselves
Coverage in the media (mainstream and otherwise)
Blogs, blogswarms, rants, raves and effluvia
Subscribe to the non-blog by Email (courtesy Feedburner)
This is not my blog. 
Jeff,
Here is the new official Voices in Conflict web site.
http://www.voicesinconflict.com/
In additional developments, the Public Theatre sold out (well, gave out) all its tickets in the first hour of availability. The guy at the box office was incredulous saying that he has received requests from all over the world.
Also, one of the characters in the play is Marine Lt. Charlie Anderson. He has taken a sincere interest in the play and wants to see it, so the parents of the cast members are chipping in to pay his travel and other expenses to come to see it at the Public Theatre.
And regarding the use of scripts, the theatrical motif of the play is that it is staged as a high school assembly where the actors are holding scripts. However it will be quickly evident that they do have their parts memorized and will not be relying on the scripts. The play has been expanded to include other related “voices in conflict”, like those that have emanated from Wilton High School itself in its own local conflict. It becomes kind of a meta-play, to coin a term.
Thanks again for collecting all this info.
I hope additional performances will be available!