By Jordan Nickels | Theater is a constant reflection of the United States. Unfortunately, we live during a time in this country where gun violence is rapid and too frequent, which changes the narrative. Which begs the question, how do we handle such a topic on stage? Many contemporary plays have risen about gun violence and gun related crimes in the last decade, including FST’s recent productions … Continue reading The Pen and The Trigger Finger
Teamsters National Black Caucus and Concert with a Cause are partnering with Visible Men Academy to provide some upcoming events for the community. Visible Men Academy serves students from Manatee and Sarasota Counties from lower income communities. For more information, please see below: Teamsters National Black Caucus adopts Visible Men Academy On Saturday, March 25th at 6:00 pm, Visible Men Academy’s Co Founder and Principal, Neil Phillips, … Continue reading Upcoming Events – Visible Men Academy
By Jordan Nickels | How do you teach white students about discrimination and racism? The day after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, a small town Iowa teacher named Jane Elliott prepared an experiment for her class. This lesson was called “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes,” where she would treat her students who had blue eyes as superior to those who have brown eyes. This experiment has … Continue reading “Blue Eyes/Brown Eyes”A Class Divided
By Jordan Nickels | “We must bring awareness.… Don’t wait until tragedy knocks on your door.” Gwen Carr, Mother of Eric Garner. What started as a hashtag became a movement. After the death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin and 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, a group came together to start the Black Lives Matter Movement to promote changes to police brutality, gun reform, and race relations … Continue reading Black Lives Matter – The Mothers of the Movement
By Jordan Nickels | Theatergoers know about playwright Kimber Lee’s poetic play brownsville song (b-side for tray), showing how the family copes with the death of 18 year-old Tray Thompson. But what many don’t know is this play is based on a true story of 20 year-old Tray Franklin Grant, an aspiring boxer from Brownsville, Brooklyn. Kimber Lee, who is also from Brooklyn, heard about Tray through … Continue reading Center Stage to Center Ring: The Real Tray
By Jordan Nickels | Theatre has always been a great form of entertainment and a community voice, opening up a dialogue about certain issues. Florida Studio Theatre has always made it a primary goal to “creating the best in contemporary theatre at an affordable price.” However, FST continues to find ways to make the arts more accessible to an even broader audience. Pay What You Can … Continue reading What is Pay What You Can Night?
By Jordan Nickels | brownsville song (b-side for tray) is set in Brownsville, Brooklyn in New York City, considered by most a slum and dangerous neighborhood that lives under the poverty line. However, this is the neighborhood that the young characters, especially Tray and Devine, inhabit in this play. Below is an educational resource provided by Teaching Tolerance that breaks down the definition of the poverty line … Continue reading Calculating the Poverty Line
FST Stage Directions 