What an honor the day before my birthday to see that the message of May I Have Your Attention, Please? is being shared in such wonderful ways. I applaud the efforts of this High School! #Theatre4Change
May I Have Your Attention, Please?
November 7, 2016
Drama is coming to Cross Creek, and, it’s the good kind.
New teacher and drama director Mr. D.L Barksdale is a former New Yorker who has a history in cinema. Barksdale is bringing a fresh breath of theatre that the school has never seen before, and he plans to do it soon. “May I have your attention, please?” is a one act play written by Catherine Rhoden-Goguen that the drama department performed in Milledgeville, Georgia during the regional acting competition back in October.
The play is centered around Chris, a high school student who feels as if he gets no love from his family, and is the black sheep. He tries to talk to them about how he feels, but is it too late for them to save him when he has already contemplated taking his life?
Cross Creek student and uprising actor Christian Thomas won the All Star Cast award for his portrayal of Brent. Barksdale felt as if this play was the best choice for students and teachers alike because it discusses a topic considered taboo in high school: teenage suicide.
Unknown to students, teachers went to a training seminar based on suicide prevention, and Barksdale felt as if “this was the best way to continue the conversation among the teachers, and leave room for conversations to be initiated by the students.”
The play will be debuting on November 17th, and will be accompanied by poetry, music, and other forms of art that could prevent teenage suicide, in hopes of not only extending a helping hand, but making it go much further than a one act play.