Protesting guns one play at a time

The Enquirer (Cincinnati)
By David Lyman

Playwright Lauren Gunderson was a junior at Decatur (Ga.) High School when the Columbine High School shooting took place in 1999.

The 17-year-old instantly kicked into activist mode, organizing protests, writing an op-ed piece in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and traveling to Washington D.C. to urge legislators to take action.

Nineteen years have passed. School shootings still take place with alarming frequency.

Gunderson is still an activist. But today, she has a platform far larger than the one she had as a teenager. This season, according to American Theatre magazine, she is the most-produced playwright in American professional theater. (Other than Shakespeare, the perennial No. 1.) Her plays are smart and engaging and exceedingly well-researched, whether she is writing about the French Revolution or science or championing equality for women.

So when Gunderson heard about the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, Gunderson stepped forward with what she does best – a play.

She was already working on a one-person play loosely based on “Hamlet.” The character is trying to find refuge from an impending tornado. Or so we think. By the end of the play, the plot is embroiled in a domestic nightmare involving a gun.

Gunderson wanted people to see the play as soon as possible. So she turned to Facebook to make an offer to the nation’s theaters. They could host royalty-free readings of the play, but the readings would have to take place during the weekend of April 20 – the 19th anniversary of the Columbine shootings.

“Lauren and I are Facebook friends,” says Maggie Lou Rader, education director at the Know Theatre. “I said ‘yes’ we wanted to be a part of it. Luckily Alice said we’d find a way to make it work.”

“Alice” is Alice Flanders, the Know’s managing director. And indeed, she did make it work.

At 3 p.m. on Saturday, April 21, the Know will join nearly 90 other venues around the nation that are hosting readings of “Natural Shocks.” There are theaters – Cincinnati Shakespeare Company is hosting a reading, too – universities, churches, arts centers, high schools and even one tavern in the mix. (Coincidentally, the Know opens a Gunderson’s “Ada and the Engine” on April 13.)

Gunderson had one other stipulation. The sponsoring organizations should contribute whatever money they collect to Everytown or Moms Demand Action or some other organization actively opposing gun violence.

The Know will turn its proceeds over to Women Helping Women, while CSC has earmarked its proceeds to Moms Demand Action.

That’s where Michele Mueller came into the picture. She is the local group leader of Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America, the full name of the organization. Nationally, the group claims 4.7 million members.

Mueller is always eager to use the clout that comes with such huge numbers. Earlier this week, she and several other members were in Columbus to testify against two pieces of state legislation that would ease access to guns.

“We rely on people being generous with their time and their money and their caring,” says Mueller. “But to get an offer like this out of the blue was a shock and a surprise. This is the sort of thing that lets us share our message with people we probably wouldn’t reach otherwise.”

Mueller will speak after the reading, which features longtime CincyShakes ensemble member Corinne Mohlenhoff. In addition, Mueller will be joined by Hamilton County Democratic activist and volunteer, Ethel Guttenberg, whose granddaughter Jaime Guttenberg was one of the 17 students and teachers killed in the Parkland shooting.

Outwardly, this may seem an odd project for a mainstream theater like CSC. But producing artistic director Brian Isaac Phillips says it’s not curious at all.

“My job is to do plays and stories that are important,” says Phillips. “Sometimes that means doing a monthlong run of ‘Cat’,” he says. (“Cat On a Hot Tin Roof” is at CSC through April 28.) “Sometimes it means doing something like this, which is important for all of us and for all of American society.”

The two theaters are taking slightly different approaches to the play. While CSC is staging it with a single actor, The Know version – directed by Flanders – will split the acting among six women. Besides Rader, the cast includes Burgess Byrd, Lisa DeRoberts, Lormarev Jones, Miranda McGee and Regina Pugh.

Shortly before the 2016 world premiere of “The Revolutionists” at the Playhouse in the Park, Gunderson spoke with the Enquirer about how essential it is for theaters to be activist institutions.

“What is the use of art in a time of crisis?” Gunderson asked. “I’m trying to change the world. If theater is done right, it can move people . . . we could use less political rhetoric and more art. I really believe that. Our country is a better country if we have art at our core.”

“Natural Shocks”
When No. 1: 6 p.m., April 22
Where: Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, 1195 Elm St., Over-the-Rhine.
Tickets: $20
Information: 513-381-2273; www.cincyshakes.com
When No. 2: 3 p.m., April 21
Where: Know Theatre of Cincinnati, 1120 Jackson St., Over-the-Rhine.
Tickets: $12 suggested donation
Information: 513-300-5669; knowtheatre.com