Tevlin: Play that tackles gritty truths resonates with Minneapolis teens

Several gun shots echoed through the auditorium at South High School in Minneapolis last week, and three young people crouched by a locker in fear.

At least they looked scared, but they were actually actors from Mixed Blood Theatre, doing a play called "Stars and Stripes" that was commissioned by an unlikely partner: the Hennepin County attorney's office.

The reason for the play was succinctly summed up by one of the characters: "The battlefield is everywhere," including in the streets, the home and the schools.

The play, written by Syl Jones for Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman, is seen as another way to try to reach teens on the issues of guns and violence. Freeman used a similar tactic in the early 1990s, another period of increasing violence in the city.

The play takes place in the dream of a young woman, Brie, who lives it out in what appears to be a video game. She has flashbacks to different ages, including a time in fourth grade when the students all witnessed a murder outside their school. The incident became "our secret," when the students all agreed not to tell the police who did it.

The play touches on guns, personal ethics, bullying and "snitching," and rape and suicide. It was just raw enough, without being graphic, to keep kids riveted for 30 minutes.

"It ain't snitching if you tell the truth," one of the characters says.

The South High audience was relatively quiet, except for one girl who talked about finding a gun in her house, and another who encouraged students to have the courage to turn someone in when they know of a crime.

That's encouraging, said Chuck Laszewski, media coordinator for the attorney's office. Getting witnesses to come forward has been one of the office's biggest challenges. After the plays, attorneys have passed out information on anonymous phone lines where kids can turn if they witness or hear about violence or crime.

"Those have been the most interesting discussions with kids," Laszewski said. "Some of them just say they won't snitch at all. Others say they would only if they or a member of their family was threatened."

Laszewski said that at each school performance in the past three weeks, assistant county attorneys have asked how many students have experienced gun violence, or know someone who has. At least a third of the students, and sometimes two-thirds, raise their hands.

Willie Bridges handles juvenile offenders for Hennepin County, so he talks about how they end up in trouble, and sometimes in jail.

"Students will say they hear gun shots a lot, they say they have relatives who have been shot or gone to jail for a gun crime," Bridges said. "In the suburbs, they all say they want schools to take a stronger stand on bullying."

At a Minneapolis school earlier in the week, two students rose to acknowledge that a family member had been recently shot, according to Laszewski.

There is one scene in which the characters, played by Michael Hanna, Nike Kadri and Nathan Barlow, text each other about having sex with a fictional character, Abby.

"The girls really want to talk about that," said Bridges. "Gossiping about each other is something they understand."

A lot of the students also relate to the character in the play who is struggling with his sexual identity, and gets teased as a young boy when he plays with dolls.

"There is truly a difference between snitching and caring about yourself and your family," she said.

jtevlin@startribune.com • 612-673-1702