Transforming Narratives of Gun Violence through Performance

Part of what makes all Social Impact Studios unique is the opportunity they afford Emerson students to apply their learnings outside of the classroom. This semester’s theatre studio – taught by Dana Edell, with Community Learning Partners from Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence and the Center for Teen Empowerment – is a great example, with multiple community-centered projects utilizing the students’ theatrical skill sets toward direct action protests and community-building, all in service of transforming narratives of gun violence here in Boston. 

The students took part in the March For Our Lives rally on Saturday, March 25 on the Boston Common, a protest calling for stricter gun laws in the U.S., where the students performed a co-created poetry and movement piece and led an interactive demonstration with other protest participants. According to the March for Our Lives website, the protest was part of a “youth-led movement dedicated to promoting civic engagement, education, and direct action by youth to eliminate the epidemic of gun violence.” 

As part of the engagement and learning process with community partners, the students facilitated a creative workshop on Wednesday, April 13 with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute (LDBPI) to support the transformation of the first of seven “Peace Poles," which are telephone poles located along the route of the organization’s Mothers Day Walk for Peace fundraiser in Dorchester. The decoration of each pole is inspired by one of the seven Principles of Peace, which guide LDBPI’s work : Love, Unity, Faith, Hope, Courage, Justice, and Forgiveness.

The Studio's work culminated at Peace in Process, a collective event on May 2 which celebrated the work of all of the spring 2023 Social Impact Studios. The theatre studio presented a devised performance entitled UNITY, inspired by the group's work with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute's Principles of Peace, and the text was generated collaboratively:

Students learn how theatre artists have used their skills and creativity to address root causes of gun violence, such as systemic racism, poverty, and toxic masculinity. Students study and practice a variety of applied theatre techniques, including Theater of the Oppressed, devised performance, and theater in education. Through arts-based research, applied theatre activities, community participant interviews, personal reflection, and a long-term devising process, students write, create and perform original, trauma-informed, collaborative theatre. This course requires students to be flexible, creative, and patient as we respond to the needs and desires of our partners. The syllabus and class projects might evolve and shift throughout the semester as we foster deeper connections with our community partners in order to create and implement mutually beneficial projects. 

Dana Edell

Assistant Professor, Performing Arts

ELab Senior Fellow

Damien Leach

Learning Partner

Angelica Fontes

Community Organizer, Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence

Sanye Gonzalez

Spring 2023 - Theatre

UNITY Performance

Watch a recording of the "Unity" performance at Peace in Process on May 2, 2023

Seated audience members, one of whom is receiving a flower from a performer

Peace Weaving Activity

On April 13, 2023, the spring Social Impact Studio in theatre facilitated a Peace Weaving activity at a creative workshop with the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute in Dorchester. 

Peace weaving activities laid out on a black tablecloth with colorful string

Protesters with anti-gun-violence signs on the Boston Common

Four individuals standing addressing a room with colorful tablecloths

Four individuals clustered for a photo on the Boston Common

Five individuals performing on a stage; two kneeling, two standing, and one holding flowers

Four individuals performing on a stage, holding newspapers

Kasey McFerren

Graduate Student, Applied Theatre '23

Joye Prince

Graduate Student, Applied Theatre '25

Fiona Paige Brown

Interdisciplinary Studies '26

Brielle Fowlkes

Graduate Student

Camille Cappello

Graduate Student, Applied Theatre

Katie Sibley

Graduate Student '24

Allison Beauregard

Graduate Student, Theatre Education & Applied Theatre ‘24

Attempting to align the schedules and values of overly busy, theatre production-oriented undergraduate students with the gentle, trust-building practices of community engagement has been the most challenging part of our process and collaboration. Relationships take time to build and trust must be earned and yet we have time crunches within the semester to reach certain learning goals, assignment deadlines, performance expectations and end-of-semester realities. We attempted to move, as activist adrienne maree brown writes, “at the speed of trust” which meant many pivots, changes to the syllabus and the performance structures. Students had the opportunity to move through this journey in real time as we attempted to connect with partners, listen to their stories and then create performances inspired by the experiences of the survivors. We struggled with issues of representation and our own identities and experiences might inform the pieces we create and the stories we feel we have “a right” to tell onstage.

We read and discussed research about gun violence; its root causes, impact and prevention strategies. Additionally, we studied plays and even a young adult novel that addressed gun violence using creative and innovative forms to engage readers and audiences. We invited several guests to our class to help us understand the context and breadth of this issue and its impact on survivors. Dr. Peter Masiakos and Dr. Chana A Sacks, the co-directors of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Gun Violence Prevention Center shared their experiences in the hospital, recent research projects, and the goals and vision for their center. We spoke with Jeffery Solomon and Emily Joy Weiner from Houses on the Moon Theater Company about their production of 

. And most significantly, we spoke with three survivors from the Louis D. Brown Peace Institute whose loved ones had been murdered. In Zoom breakout rooms, students shared space with survivors and listened to their stories. 

Every Tuesday, a different pair of students presented and facilitated a “Call to Action” for which they identified a specific issue related to gun violence, briefly educated the class about the issue, then facilitated a performance-based intervention or response with the rest of the class giving us 

Every Thursday, students in pairs presented and facilitated a “Call to Hope,” for which they researched and shared a positive example of a creative, successful initiative, project, healing, or performance that illuminated forward movement through the gun violence crisis. They then lead the class through an activity that centered wellness, care, connection and/or joy.

In the second half of the semester, students first crafted short performance pieces in groups of 2 or 3, inspired by all the various stories, readings and discussions from the semester. We then collaboratively devised one longer performance that threaded the pieces together and thoughtfully considered how, where, and if the course would share it publicly. 

Additionally, we studied and practiced the interactive performance technique of Forum Theater, a technique from Brazilian theater activist Augusto Boal’s Theater of the Oppressed, and used this structure to create short skits addressing issues connected to how hospital staff and doctors relate to gun violence survivors and their families, to be performed at Massachusetts General Hospital as part of an interactive community strategizing session. 

We then performed an excerpt from this longer performance on the Emerson Campus at the semester’s 

, which you can view online. We hope that our public performances serve to show examples of how theater can be a tool to help reframe false narratives related to violence in our communities.

Throughout the semester, a diverse group of 13 undergraduate theatre students explored gun violence prevention, as well as support systems for survivors of homicide through an applied theatre lens, building an understanding of how theatre artists have used their skills, creativity and community engagement strategies to address the root causes of gun violence: systemic racism, poverty and toxic masculinity. Through arts-based research, applied theatre activities, community participant story sharings and a long-term devising process, students collaboratively write, create and perform original theatre addressing gun violence and offering calls to action.

Alexandra Chéry-Dorrelus

Co-Executive Director, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute

Maudrie Depradine

Dr. Sherri Raftery

Spring 2022 - Theatre

Spring 2022 TNGV Theatre Project

An excerpt from the performance devised by the Spring 2022 Theatre Studio

A row of student performers on stage in a black box theater

Student performers rehearsing in a black box theater

A row of student performers seated on stage in a black box theater

Student performers on stage in a black box theater

Five student performers rehearsing onstage

McKennen Campbell

Theatre & Performance '23

Tiana Perez-Toro

Theatre Education '22

Tori Eriavez

Acting '23

Allie Witek

Theatre & Performance ‘23

Rachel Tabin

Theatre '23

Allison Delaney Earl

Kylie Berry

Stage & Production Management ‘22

Mikayla Brown

Theatre Design & Technology

Ethan Williams

Acting '22

Lee Forrest

Theatre '22

Ranier Pearl-Styles

Teaching Assistant

Graduate Student, Theatre Education & Applied Theatre '22

Maia Tivony

Demiah Crawford

Acting, Film Production, Cosmetic Design '22

Juliette Hoernle

Communication Sciences and Disorders ‘22

LEARNING FROM ONE ANOTHER’S EXPERIENCES

Transforming Narratives of Gun Violence through Performance is an applied theatre class, meaning the professor, students, and learning partners utilized the medium of live performance as a means to unpack questions and assumptions about gun violence, both locally and nationally. The class partnered with the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, the Massachusetts General Hospital Gun Violence Prevention Center, and other local organizers and activists in order to better understand the complexities of the issue and, ultimately, to co-create a short performance piece. 

The semester began with a focus on collective learning, digging into the issue of gun violence by trying to understand and unpack both historical and current dominant narratives, as well as the personal experiences of both students and learning partners. 

To frame these discussions, the class implemented 

, which were opportunities for participants to bring specific issues to light (Calls to Action) or highlight real-world positive steps taken towards changing the narrative in our country (Calls to Hope). Participants also created tableaus, 3-D models, and shared their stories in order to better understand one another and deepen their connection as a community and ensemble.

After coming to a better understanding of existing narratives, the class then asked itself: what role do we have to transform those narratives, and how can we do that through performance? In the last month of the semester, the class did a lot of writing, landing on a structure for the performance and making key decisions about what they wanted to say and what myths they wanted to bust in their final performance.

The Studio's work culminated at Peace in Process, a collective event on December 12 which celebrated the work both fall 2023 TNGV Social Impact Studios. The collaboratively devised performance, which began with a dynamic land acknowledgment and historical context-setting for the city of Boston, focused on busting commonly-held myths about gun violence in our communities and how it impacts everyone in different ways. Through the performance, students, Learning Partners, and the event audience boarded a theatrical train journey toward an imagined future of collective healing, justice, and peace. 

In this unique course, students will learn and use a variety of applied theatre techniques to partner with local community-based, anti-violence organizations in order to transform the dominant narratives related to gun violence in the United States today. Students will learn how theatre artists have used their skills and creativity to address root causes of gun violence, such as systemic racism, poverty, and toxic masculinity. We will study and practice a variety of applied theatre techniques, including Theater of the Oppressed, devised performance, and theater in education. Through arts-based research, applied theatre activities, community participant interviews, personal reflection, and a long-term devising process, students will write, create and perform original, trauma-informed, collaborative theatre. This course requires students to be flexible, creative, and patient as we respond to the needs and desires of our partners. The syllabus and class projects might evolve and shift throughout the semester as we foster deeper connections with our community partners in order to create and implement mutually beneficial projects. Class times: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12pm to 1:45pm.



Maridena Rojas

Community Organizer

Lavell Fulks

Associate Director, Violence Intervention & Prevention (VIP) Initiative

Boston Public Health Commission

Stephany Zhivotovsky

Research Coordinator

Massachusetts General Hospital Gun Violence Prevention Center

Fall 2023 - Theatre

Fall 2023 TNGV Theatre Project

A live performance focused on busting commonly-held myths about gun violence 

Studio participants performing at Peace in Process

Students in purple t-shirts performing at Peace in Process

Student in purple t-shirt and conductor hat in front of a projection of the word "PEACE"

Student in purple t-shirt and jeans, wearing headphones and dancing as part of the performance