GIVE 'EM HELL by Madeleine Brown

Inspired by real-life student activism, Give ‘em Hell is a new play that retells the final school year leading up to the 2012 closure of Peterborough Collegiate and Vocational School (PCVS).

Written by Peterborough-born, award-winning playwright Madeleine Brown and featuring a cast of eight local teenagers, GIVE 'EM HELL explores the power of youth activism, the perils of self-discovery and what it costs to stand up for a cause. The show was staged in the actual auditorium of the former PCVS building, which was unused by the school currently occupying the space.

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My production focused on staging the youth protests not as they actually were, but larger than life with a kind of comic-book feel - the way the participants would remember them now. I wanted to make the students seem like superheroes, making their eventual loss all the more gut-wrenching. Stories about young activism always focus on the victories, so a story about a group of teenagers who eventually lose everything they were fighting for was really intriguing to me. 
 

Co-produced by Theatre Direct and Prairie Fire, Please in association with the Peterborough Museum of and Archives and 4th Line Theatre

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GIVE 'EM HELL 

by Madeleine Brown

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September 15-23 at the PACE auditorium

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Directed and Dramaturged by Aaron Jan

Stage Managed by Annasofie Jakobsen

Assistant Stage Managed by Cathy Ho-Nguyen

Set and Costume Design by Melanie McNeill

Associate Set and Costume Design by JB Nelles

Lighting Designed by Logan Cracknell

Sound Design and Composition by Uri Livin-Barr

Production Managed by Autumn Coppaway

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Production and Mentorship Partner: The Miikana Project
Production Mentorship Program Participants: Eve Knowles, Tashvi Menghi, Aanya Sharma, Elisa Torres

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With: Lion Addison, Jalen Brink, Edith Burton, Ziqin Chen, Ella Cunningham, Jeff Dingle*, Eloise Harvey, M. John Kennedy*, Isabelle Siena, Sarah Lynn Strange* and Jessie Williams

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*indicates a member of Actor's Equity

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Supported by the Canada Council for the Arts

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Show Photography by Dahlia Katz

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